Okami: The New Dawn
by AxeO'War
Summary: After surviving an assassination attempt on his life, Chibiterasu, now a full grown deity named Taiyou, seeks out his savior to give his thanks only to find the friend of the family, Anubis has changed. Thankful of Anubis's efforts saving his life, Taiyou offer to help Anubis counter the greatest threat ever known to all deities far and near. (Replacement for Okami: Reborn)
1. Chapter 1: Reunion

Chapter 1: Reunion

The quiet evening of Nippon compelled most to seek shelters, in their homes they slept quietly, fathers tell tales of his work to his family. Not on the fields of terrace farming but in the factories, workshops of artisans or construction works in the city itself.

Mothers arrive home, with their bags full of groceries and food for the rest of the week. For the time being in Sei'an city, life seems mostly the same as it had been for thousands of years, but there were changes and modernity manifesting itself in the daily activities of the citizens.

But this evening was not one of relaxation and leisure for some others, inside a dark warehouse somewhere in the city's Commoner Quarter, two figures were busy at work going over a map of the city.

Next to them was an electric lamp to provide proper reading light over a wooden table and some chairs. The two were metallic beings, shiny chrome armor with reflective surfaces, their heads sport wolf ears and their heads were distinctively that of wolves. Their canid appearances were even more pronounced with stubby metal tails behind them.

Their bodies were rather large muscular almost like idealized sculpted figures of the legendary Herakles with armor plates sporting curvaceous forms of pectoral perfection on their torsos. Their abdomens were packing six packs that were covered in smooth armor plates.

They sported grey and silver color pixelated camouflage patterns on their plates and panels, on their backs, each one of them appear to be carrying a bullpup assault rifle with a foregrip in front and drum magazine attached to the lower receiver group, the weapon appeared to be a futuristic design of a FAMAS rifle but with laser dot sight in place of standard iron sight.

"So they're going for the Aristocratic Quarter. A hit job on the Prince of this Empire. Actionable intel?" The gruff male robot asked his partner, as they went over the details. "Affirmative Belisarius, our Scouts posted near the Aristocratic Quarters sighted suspicious movements around the gates of the quarters before. Several runners often rile up the guards and run away quickly. Testing the water so to speak." His partner, Arminius, replied as they looked at the entry points and gatehouses. They would approach via the rooftops and parkour.

"Then let's move, the time is getting close. We'll link up with the scouts and then move in on the Aristocratic quarter." Stated Belisarius as he then rolled the map up and placed it inside a round tube like canvas bag and zipped up the lid of the bag before heading out.

The two of them ran out of the warehouse, taking a leap into the air before landing hard on the rooftops of the city, the two then sprinted forward running over the rooftops running through the Commoners Quarters of the city. They ran with the incredible speed their robot bodies allow them but this only left their footsteps and damages on the rooftops of the more fragile houses.

They soon came to the edge of the Commoners Quarters where the Gojo bridge can be seen with the two palaces for Queen Himiko and the Emperor. "Ikaros come in, this is Herakles do you read us over?" Arminius tapped his right ear to dial up the communication relay to his allies in the city.

On the other end of the call were a pair of robot wolves lying down on their stomachs observing the area ahead of them with a spotter scope and the other one was wielding a large bullpup sniper rifle with a drum magazine firing .50 cal rounds, a rather strange design to say the least.

The rifle itself had a high tech rectangular scope with digital zooming function and multiple vision modes to scan for targets. "Ikaros here, reading you 5 by 5. We have seven, repeat seven tangos entered the area. Optical camouflage packing 5.56-ers and pineapples. Over." The robot wolf on observation relayed the information to his allies. "Affirmative Ikaros, thanks for the heads up. Let us know if you see anymore hostiles that we need to look out for." Arminius replied to them as he and Belisarius jumped over the city's canal and latched onto the wall, they engaged their magnetic paw pads and effortlessly climb the wall and hopped over.

The two landed down on the courtyard where they kept their eyes out of the enemy Optical Camouflage Troopers. They grabbed their weapons mounted on their backs and cocked the bolts, arming their weapons before moving out tactically scanning for threats. "Ikaros keep your eyes peel, we can't see everything." Belisarius stated to his sniper team as they came up closer to the nearby shrine within the courtyard.

The sniper team on the balcony of the nearby Pagoda switched on their FLIR thermal vision filtering the world through the scope of their weapon in a grey black and white thermal view, the sniper scanned the target area slowly trying to find his targets but they remained rather well hidden by their cloaking devices.

"No eyes on targets, repeat negative visual. Suggest you look out for enemy movements over." The sniper called out to them making Belisarius sighed out annoyed. The urgency of the situation required intel that's on time but here they were using guess works and hunches to hunt their foes.

As Belisarius and Arminius looked around and saw that there were signs of enemy movements in the area, bent grasses and flatten vegetations suggested enemy movements towards the Shrine.

"Of course, Arminius, follow me I think we found our assailants." Belisarius stated to Arminius as the two would then creep closer to the Shrine, eventually Belisarius noticed a silhouette in front of him, a transparent and somewhat outlined silhouette giving away a bulky form with round helmet.

"Contact! Enemies sighted to our front!" Belisarius shouted and stood up opening fire on the silhouette, the gunshot from his weapon sounded so loud that it shook the neighboring buildings awake and the startled the assassins. They in turn looked over and saw the two robot wolves and open fire on them, startled by their sudden presence.

The gunfire that erupted in the courtyard disabled their cloaking abilities and revealed their true appearances to the robot dynamic duo. "Hostiles detected, take the shot." The spotter robot ordered his shooter, who in turn heeded the order and exercise his initiative and open fired on the target.

His bullet traveled through the air changing its flight pattern as the wind interfered with it before slamming into the enemy fighter's back and exited on the other end splattering blood on the ground and shattering the body of the assassin in half.

The scuffle of course soon draw the attention of the guards in the city and palaces as they converge on the courtyard. They see two robots skirting around the courtyard. From within the shrine, Taiyou emerges surprised to hear the gunshots in the area that was supposed to be well guarded. He was wearing traditional dark blue Kimono robe for males with a flower and sun motif on it.

He saw that the two robot wolves were stomping the surviving Assassins on the ground with the one bearing the name Belisarius on his chest executing the last assassin without flinching. "Target neutralized, subject is secured." Said Belisarius on the coms to his sniper team before looking over to Taiyou's shock expression.

"What just happened here? Who are you and what have you done?" He asked confused seeing the sight of carnage before him and the intestines of the assassins hanging out of their bodies. "Stopping your death, young one. I can't stay here and explain. But know this, Anubis sends his regards." Said Belisarius as he stood up from the ground and turned his back to Taiyou along with Arminius as the two exited the courtyard. But Taiyou had one lead to follow on, Anubis…

[hr]

Dear mother and father,

Recently, something terrible nearly happened to me in Sei'an City. A group of assassins nearly murdered me while I was conducting a ceremony in the city's Shrine. Someone managed to save me in the process however and in the nick of time too.

They were two metal wolves, mechanical in nature obviously. They took down the assassins and left me a note to follow up on and they mentioned Anubis in it.

So in my haste to travel to Egypt again since the last time I visited it centuries ago, I write this letter to let you know of what happened and assure that I am well.

I will keep in touch soon when I learn of what has been happening.

Your loving son,

Taiyou

The sight of Alexandria appeared before his eyes once again since his previous visit of the city, he stepped out of the portal he had summoned and found himself in the Greek capital of Egypt, an oxymoron that few would dare to speak out loud.

The city was of course remained the same since he last seen it, a vibrant multicultural and multiethnic metropolis with the overarching Greek cultural dominion remain supreme.

At least this time, he had no worries of getting lost as he knew the city's layout like the back of his paw. He went out to the Northern end of the city towards the Royal Palace where he would no doubt find Anubis.

As he was taking a walk towards the Royal Palace however, he noticed something interesting in the crowds of pedestrian, someone was seen walking amongst the crowd. A pair of long canine ears protruding up above the crowd with a scepter planting on the ground. Not only that but the jet black color made Taiyou's heart jumped a beat when he saw the figure.

He knew who that was and he ran towards the person in question, pushing himself through the crowds of pedestrians of Greek populace before emerging with his hand reach out to what appeared to be Anubis. But his excitement soon faded when he realize the hand that he was grasping.

Cold metal, hard and smooth was all he felt, the color matched that of Anubis but the deity's appearance seemed off, he was mechanical with armor plates all across his body from top to bottom. Even the ears are now covered in metal. When Anubis turned his head to face Taiyou, the deity made a surprise grunt seeing the young prince of the Sun again.

"Taiyou? You're here awfully early there. I trust that the warriors I dispatched did their job well enough." Anubis said to Taiyou calmly but his voice came off somewhat grainy and synthetic, artificial and unnatural at time even though it somewhat captured the baritone and deep voice quality of Anubis that Taiyou knew from his youth. "W-what happened to you?" Taiyou asked weakly in fear upon seeing Anubis.

"This?" Anubis asked looking down at his robot body again noting the terrified reaction Taiyou had of him. "Something I've done for adaptation." Said Anubis in a blunt manner to Taiyou, he didn't seem phased and the answer he deliver only serve to make Taiyou felt like he wasn't the same deity he met when he was younger.

"Wh-at? How and what did you do to yourself? You're a r-robot by now, not even a God like I know you to be from before." Tayou protested and complained to Anubis as the two were walking on the streets of Alexandria with the mortals around them making way for them when the two came close while other mortals were simply too preoccupied with their own things to care.

"Long story short, I modified my body with cybernetics and robotic technological advancements. Now I can use Technomancy and ward off Hackers and malicious entities." He stated nonchalantly to Taiyou before looking down at his body again noticing the lack of fur and noticeable flesh, or rather the flesh that was buried underneath the armor.

"But at what cost?" Taiyou remarked at Anubis feeling displeased by the fact that Anubis didn't seem to catch the point that Taiyou was trying to make. "Let me guess… my humanity? My emotion that you fear lost to the metal body?" Anubis asked Taiyou hesitantly as he paused for a moment by an intersection of the city. "I know that you need the technological knowledge to develop and adapt. But must it come with you becoming THAT which you seek to control?" Taiyou asked painfully.

He noticed however that Anubis was standing still by the intersection's sidewalk, he glanced around trying to see what was happening as Anubis didn't seem to have interest in crossing the streets. "What are we waiting for?" Taiyou asked curiously looking back and forth.

"For my chauffeur." Anubis remarked nonchalantly, soon enough, Taiyou heard the rumbling sound of a vehicle engine coming towards them, he saw a Jeep came up to the street and stopped for them to board.

The vehicle appeared to be a yellow tan desert camouflage vehicle with a jerry can on its back and the wind shield rested on the hood of the vehicle. The driver was a robot jackal in digital desert camouflage, "Kept you waiting huh?" The driver asked Anubis half joking in an almost cocky voice.

"By 2 seconds late, have to make do with traffics of course." Anubis remarked in a rather easy manner apparently he didn't seem to be bothered by the margins of late arrival like a cold machine would be. "Come on Taiyou, since you're already here, I might as well show you what has been happening and what I've been working on." Taiyou nodded to Anubis and felt himself compelled to sit next to Anubis as the jeep rolled its wheels out of Alexandria.

The young white wolf with red markings saw that they were heading out of Alexandria heading to the South East along the Nile River to the area on the opposite side of lake Mareotis. The ruins of the Temple of Sekhmet on the island in the middle of the lake he once visited was still there and so was the settlement of Yamu marked by the Temple of Sekhmet.

He saw that the vehicle took a turn on its sand roads into a gated area with traffic cones and sandbag barricades forming its sturdy walls. Once he passed the gates, he came into a massive sprawling military base, at least to his eyes.

He saw semi-circle barracks with a parade ground in the middle where a flag was hoisted, a black flag with golden silhouette of Anubis's jackal head painted in gold flew high. Nearby he could see a helipad area where several sleek and angular helicopters with five blades on their main rotors and tail rotors were standing by. The helicopters appear to have some sort of muffler device attached to their rotors.

"Welcome to Fort Philopator, home of the Jackal Guards. We moved out from the Royal Barracks in the city to set up a new base that fits our methods." Said Anubis as he got off the jeep with Taiyou, he saw that the place had helicopters flying in and out by the hours with some being strange VTOL like crafts that had sleek and angular forms and quadcopter design to haul heavy cargos. "New methods? This place is full of robots and machines." Taiyou said in a perplexed manner.

He saw that the base was manned and operated by robots, all of whom were anthropomorphic wolves or jackals. They sported rather muscular athletic build for the most part with shiny chrome armor on them. On their chest they had serial code numbers painted on them with their rank insignias. CLU, CLU-I, were what he saw for the most part.

"I'm sure you're aware of the development in mechanical warriors and their implementation on the battlefield. Well… I started it." Anubis replied stoically to Taiyou as he walked with the prince of the Sun in the base towards the hangar area in front of an obstacle course and demolition training area. "I do but…" He replied but then grew hesitant to speak more.

"Well anyway point is, I was looking for you to thank you for saving my life. It's odd for me to see you sent robot wolves to do the job but I thank you nevertheless." Said Taiyou in a more focused tone, he extended his arm out to Anubis waiting for his reaction.

Much to his pleasant surprise, he would see that Anubis shaking his hand back, apparently he wasn't completely lost. "No problem with it. Just doing my job Taiyou. I could introduce you to the one who planned it, but I must warn you though. He is shall we say… a bit dense?" Anubis hesitated for a moment before leading Taiyou towards one of the hangar there, the two could hear the muffled grunting and groaning sounds coming from within, followed by smacking and punching sounds and mechanical whirring of actuators and hydraulics.

As the metal doors slide open and the sun lights penetrated into the metal interiors of the hangar, Taiyou saw a dojo of sort where several still flesh and blood Jackal warriors were seen fighting something.

A robot he could tell but one that was shorter than the others of Anubis's army, unlike the colors of grey, silver or tannish desert brown and yellow camouflage. This one appeared to have blue chrome color on his body.

His wrists, hands and legs were jet black while his body had tan chrome color and a pair of red LED optics. On the back of its head were a quartet of black dreadlocks connected to one another in segments.

"This one feels...different somehow," Taiyou said, surprise coloring his voice. "I can tell, there's something else about him."

"Indeed." Anubis remarked as the strange robot launched a high kick with his leg reaching up to absolute verticality smacking into the face of one jackal warrior behind him. He then made a jump into the air and flipped behind said warrior before kicking him in the back.

"He's definitely notably stronger from what I can see, but I doubt that's just it." Taiyou mused, having a pretty good feel of how Anubis think from all those years back.

"Yes he is. Stronger and smarter, more so than his peers for good reasons. But I have yet to help him find a way to socialize." Said Anubis as he watched the robot Lucario jabbing one of the jackal warrior in his chest before judo throwing him against his comrades.

"Flawless Victory." Anubis declared in a deep grumble, the robot Lucario would then walk up to Anubis and Taiyou, it suddenly knelt down and bowed its head before the two. "I am at your service Lord Anubis." the robot stated politely in its monotonous voice.

"At ease young one. Taiyou, this is Leandros, the robot who planned the operation saving your life. Leandros, this is Taiyou." Anubis introduced the two to one another with Leandros standing up to look at Taiyou in the eye. "It is an honor to meet you Prince of the Sun." He spoken softly to Taiyou.

"The honor is mine. I owe you my thanks." Taiyou said with a friendly smile.

"Taiyou I will leave you with Leandros here then, he'll show you around, I'll need to gather some additional intel on the assassination attempt on your life." The Jackal spoken calmly to Taiyou, he bidded the young wolf a good bye nod before exited the hangar followed by the Jackal Warriors tired and bruises by the fight they had endured. "Malaka! That michanikó koutávi (Mechanical puppy) is going to be the death of me." One of the warriors groaned painfully with an ice pack on his face as he left the hangar.

Leandros would then climb out of the dojo steadily by flipping upside down above the ring's rope and landed on his feet gently before Taiyou. "Follow me, there's something Lord Anubis wishes to give you first." Leandros spoken monotonously but the insight he provided to Taiyou intrigued him.

The robot Lucario led Taiyou across the hangar to the rear of the structure, passing by a small narrow corridor where Taiyou saw 3D laser scanning Leandros's frame for some reasons as if the laser system was scanning him for biological information.

"LU-C4510 detected, welcome to Experimental Combat Attire wing." Said the automated speaker as the doors in front of him slide open leading Taiyou and Leandros into what appeared to be a dressing room where Taiyou was greeted with the sight of a dark carbon fiber combat suits.

It had roiled up muscle layers with a hexagonal texture, it had the helmet shaped in a canid like creature with two pointy ears perhaps for him, the suits even had a tail segment covering his wolf tail and a pair of red visor.

"This is what Lord Anubis has been working on for you, a Nanosuits model TCL-2010. The combat suit is designed to help you keep up with your enemies who may have adapted themselves to the changes of the world." Leandros stated to Taiyou as the suits's freezing chemical inside its storage pod hissed out in cold mist at their legs.

"He designed this for me?" Taiyou said in surprise, taking a closer look. "I'd like to say I'm surprised, but knowing Anubis, he probably had this prepared since whenever he found out someone was trying to kill me," Taiyou sighed as he examined the suit.

As the pod's glass door popped open, flipping upward with the suits inside resting quietly inside the pod, Leandros reached inside with both hands, grasping at the suits sides and brought it out. It was like an armor suits as he held it up but it didn't seem stiff, it felt smooth and graceful like Taiyou's body movements.

"Before putting on the suit, you'll need a first layer of protection from shock and impacts. Allow me to assist." Leandros spoke cautiously to Taiyou as he then proceeded to open the nearby wardrobe, inside it, Taiyou saw various black skin tight suits with pads on the torso, wrists and thighs sections.

The robot Lucario grabbed on and pulled down the zip on the back of the suit revealing it like a Scuba diving suit.

Taiyou looked at it for a moment, and sighed, before soon removing his own clothes so as to be able to use the suit.

The robot Lucario then let Tayou insert his hands into the suits first then helped him putting his tail into the back of the suits. Leandros then pulled the zip up locking the suits in making Taiyou felt that his rumps were bigger for some reasons.

Leandros first helped Taiyou placed his feet into the boots section of the suits and then secure his tail into the armored cocoon like section on the rear of the suit. Then the suit would begin to automatically latch onto his body clenching tightly at his flesh and fur with the helmet seal itself onto his head.

The visor flickered on and soon enough, Taiyou would see that his suit's HUD displayed numerous information to him but all of them were projected like 3D holograms attached to the objects he was looking. As demonstrated by when his focus was on Leandros, he saw various information like height, weight, age, serial code model as well as friendly/enemy status display.

LOADING OS ver.2.5

LOADING COMPLETED

USER: TAIYOU ID_SOL

FUNCTIONS LOADING: COMPLETED

MAXIMUM ARMOR RDY

MAXIMUM STRENGTH RDY

MAXIMUM SPEED RDY

CLOAK RDY

The HUD stated to Taiyou, he would then see that the HUD showed a diagram of his body's health and damaged parts on the lower left corner and a stamina circle around the diagram.

With a compass at the center of the screen showing where he's looking at while the at the top, he would see a bearing meter to show his bearing and direction and directions of enemies.

Taiyou would see that on the bottom right corner of the HUD, there was an energy circle represented by the Sun itself, he could feel the suit energy being charged by the Reflector levitating behind him constantly.

"This suits will protect you from incoming projectiles but do not push yourself. It also allows you to use your Brush techniques according to Anubis. Three functions of the suits can be used easily. Maximum Strength, Armor and Speed. But your cloak mode will require you to be more conservative of the suits energy supplies." Leandros instructed Taiyou as the suits and him settled into one another.

"Impressive, this suits was made… just for me. By Anubis, he hasn't forgotten about his family it seems. Leandros, I need to thank Anubis for this, not by words alone but by helping him since he saved me." Taiyou glanced his head over his shoulder to Leandros who was holding a tablet checking the suit's performance and movement synchronicity to Taiyou's body movements. "Assistance to the Jackal Guards is welcomed, your capacity as honorary member might be considered." Leandros stated to Taiyou.

"Your skills require training and assessment, follow me to the next hangar to begin your assessment process." Said Leandros as he hopped down a box he was standing on to monitor Taiyou's Nanosuited body. He began to walk away towards the nearby exit, the Nanosuits AI system then kicked in, marking Leandros with a green circle on his head with the word "FOLLOW" written on it for Taiyou.

The two went out to the adjacent Hangar where they found the building to be a firing range where some robots were seen squeezing off rounds down range. "Take a weapon from the Armory." said the AI of the suits with a marker projected onto Taiyou's vision. He went towards the armory master who was a flesh and blood Jackal warrior and surely enough, the arms master pushed out a rifle for Taiyou. "This here is your new wife, take care of her and she'll take care of you." the arms master quipped grimly.

The weapon was a bullpup rifle with the magazine attached to the rear of the rifle along with its mechanism, the butt stock seems to house all the working parts which allows a longer barrel to be fitted into the weapon. The top mount had a holographic dot for Taiyou to aim.

Taiyou looked at the weapon with a small frown, also not too happy with the joke, but decided not to say anything about it for now. Instead, he looked through the scope, aimed, and fired.

The bullets he squeezed down range flew everywhere, hitting the walls and metal blocks while leaving the targets untouched. This was clearly a mistake on his part as he found that the scope's aiming mechanics to be rather demanding.

"Steady your aim, hold your breath and fire in semi auto for accurate shots." Leandros instructed Taiyou using their radio connection. Hearing the instructions, he switched the selector to semi-auto mode and began to aim down sight again.

This time he held his breath and lined up his sights. Upon seeing the scope turned green with the laser trajectory simulating the bullet patterns he fired again, this time cutting down the three target cardboard cutouts properly. "Good, remember, your bullets can penetrate materials like wood, concrete, rocks and anything but they deal damages depending on the surfaces they impact." Said Leandros as the targets were now obscured by a sheet of plywood.

Taiyou fired again through the sheet, hearing the clanking sound of bullet impacts topping the targets off. "Excellent, one last thing before heading outside…" Leandros would then curiously enough, had a target board rushing towards Taiyou as if to scare him.

"Bash your target. When ammo is low." Said Leandros as the target came closer, seeing the simulated enemy close enough, Taiyou used his butt stock and bashed the target down causing it to retract to its starting. "It's time for you to meet Master Charlie Frost he is by the explosive range practicing."

The two would then head out of the hangar towards the explosive range where, as Taiyou came closer, he heard the loud thundering booms of grenades and explosives detonating.

The sound alone told him that his cherry bombs may have been outclassed. There he met an anthro robot wolf with similar built to him. This one seems to have a silver white chrome frame and blue highlights on his body and panels.

He held his grenade in hand and aimed down range before pulling the pin from it and tossed the explosive towards the direction of the targets. When it rolled on the ground the grenade detonated and froze the targets in seconds.

He heard Leandros walking closer to him though and turned around noticing the robot Lucario, "Hey Leandros… uh who is this guy?" Charlie asked Leandros, surprisingly sounding more lively than the other robots, in fact Taiyou could tell that Charlie himself wasn't a robot that was built from the get go. "Master Frost, this is Taiyou, son of Amaterasu of Nippon. And by extension, your 'Step-brother'." Leandros finished his blunt statement causing Charlie to widen his blue LED optics in shock.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?!" Taiyou gaped at the words.

"What he said. I mean step brother? What the hell?" Charlie gasped and huffed in panic at Leandros.

"Step-brother. My logical conclusion drawn from database regarding Lord Anubis and his acquaintances. Master Frost is Anubis's son, Lord Anubis in turn is married to Lady Amaterasu who is the mother of Taiyou. Therefore this render you two step brother." Leandros concluded, though it only sowed more confusions into both Charlie and Taiyou.

"But...I've never heard of this before! And Anubis has been part of my family for centuries now!" Taiyou tried hard to make sense of this. He knew Anubis wasn't the type to have affairs behind his mother's back, as it was something of a rule in the family that all relationships would be within knowledge of each other, and Anubis was too honorable to break that.

"Hey don't blame me, I'm an orphan and he just came in and called me his son and took me in." Said Charlie as he inhaled and exhaled rapidly as Leandros looked back and forth at Taiyou and Charlie. "He said something about me being a demigod, and that his wife from somewhere was murdered and he reincarnated the child into me. I don't know, I just got here for like barely a year or so." Said Charlie with an intense and long sigh as he looked back at Leandros. "Wait was this your idea of setting us up for your amusement?" He asked suspiciously.

Leandros nodded to Charlie however, and winked his red LED optic for once making Charlie grunted in surprise at the normally robotic character being able to plan a prank. "Affirmative, this was my plan to have you two meet. Expected reactions are within parameters." Leandros's robotic deadpan tone simply drive Charlie's fury to further boiling point seething out of his robot face more and more.

"Calm down Charlie, I mean it's just a prank. But I'm going to have to ask Anubis what's going on behind my back." Taiyou frowned under the mask of his suits and sighed out, for him it was his hope that this stay as a harmless prank. "What are you doing here by the way?" Taiyou asked Charlie looking back at the range filled craters and explosive shrapnels tearing holes through targets.

"Well I'm practicing grenades, this is the demolition range where you train with your frags and explosives, pyromaniacs love this place." Said Charlie as he then handed Taiyou a round ball shaped frag grenade. The grenade appeared to have a light on its surface set to yellow stand by, the pin on the top was Taiyou's only safety assurance. "So this is my hand grenade for the entirety of my time here?" Taiyou asked curiously looking at the frag grenade.

"Model M5 Frag Grenade. Effective range of 5 meters, High Explosive and fragmentation dispersal can cause severe damage and injuries. Particularly useful for room clearance and hard breaches." Leandros monotonously spouted out the information of the grenade to Taiyou as he held it in his hands carefully knowing that one drop can hurt them all. "Go ahead and toss it at the building facade over there, the one marked with the number 1." Charlie pointed towards the building facade made of concrete blocks.

Taiyou looked at the doorway of the target and held up his grenade, the Nanosuit's HUD seem to show him an AR arc of the grenade's trajectory once it left Taiyou's hand. He yanked the pin off of the grenade and tossed it at the facade.

The grenade flashed for 2 to 3 seconds before exploding. The loud boom of the grenade and the shrapnels it sent flying out were marked by the cinder blocks falling off with bits flying off. "You see that? That's what one frag grenade does to that building. Finally here's what we call the Bianca Almighty." Charlie said half jokingly as he picked up what appeared to be an shape charged explosive satchel.

The dark green satchel made from canvas contained blocks of plastic explosives inside of it. In fact Taiyou could see about 10 blocks inside of it, more than enough to take out a concrete bunker. "There's enough boom-boom in here to send a concrete bunker flying. Handle with care. I ain't paying for anything." Said Charlie with a sarcastic frown as he handed the satchel to Taiyou and led him towards the nearby concrete block.

Taiyou followed Charlie's instruction planting the explosive on the wall and attached it before turn around and ran as fast as he could back to the safety limits. "This is for the best part of the drill. FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Charlie shouted out loud as he hit the clapper, this triggered the Satchel Charge to blow up the concrete block completely leaving nothing but a smoldering crater in its wake.

As the explosion sound died down and the ringing in his ears, Taiyou can see that Anubis was approaching him with another robot accompanying the jackal deity, this one appeared to be a robot with a head of a strange animal. Canid like but twisted and almost demonic looking like Set Sutekh. "Taiyou, I see that you have met Charlie and Leandros there? How's the Nanosuits doing for you?" Anubis asked politely as he stood with his hands behind him.

"It's definitely doing its job. I honestly don't know how to describe how well it works," Taiyou answered. "Its...incredible honestly."

Anubis nodded to Taiyou noticing the Nanosuits seems to accentuate Taiyou's muscles a bit more, rolling muscles on his torso and arms and his abs were showing eye catching six packs. "Looking sturdy there I see. Excellent, follow me to the nearby hangar, OPFOR master Atreos here shall test your mettle in modern combat."

Seeing the gestures of Anubis's head turning subtly towards the hangar behind him, Taiyou and Leandros nodded to Anubis and followed the two into a hangar identical to the one he left, inside though he saw that the place had lighting system of a studio with the place having a massive VR arena in the middle where various environments can be simulated. "Step forward Taiyou, prepare your weapon and choose the attachments you deem fit." Atreos instructed Taiyou as he walked towards the other side of the VR arena.

On Taiyou's HUD, the Nanosuits display information regarding the VR scenario he was about to put into, the arena itself began to materialize various buildings and obstacles of a familiar setting, Kamiki Village in its ancient time. There were simulated villagers of old Kamiki Village like Susano, Kushi, Issun and much more. The simulated village even had verticality, sky, river and ponds meticulously recreated.

OBJ: 1. Secure Kamiki Village.  
2\. Rescue all civilian hostages.

3\. Signal the all clear to prevent airstrike.

CIV. Density: Moderate

Tactical Assessment: CQB, Long Range Engagements expected

Allied Asset: LU-C4510

Seeing the parameters given to him, Taiyou would notice that Leandros has stepped up to the starting line with Taiyou as a partner. The robot Lucario was apparently armed with an identical rifle to that of Taiyou to allow easy ammunition sharing between the two. "I'll be your partner here and will relay information and updates as they become available." Leandros stated robotically as he lock and loaded his weapon, cocking the bolt before relaxing his synthetic muscles waiting for the go code.

"Right," Taiyou nodded. "Let's work together well," he said with a small smile.

Before their eyes, the digital countdown from 3 to 1 started and ended with a whistle from Anubis. "Go! Go! Go!" Anubis ordered seeing Taiyou and Leandros sprinting forward before Leandros took the lead for Taiyou scouting ahead, the robot Lucario was crouching down keeping a low profile as he moved. He shuffled forward to a tree bark and leaned out to his right observing the road into the village.

"Enemies in sight." Leandros informed Taiyou, their HUDs lighted up with symbols of enemy infantry patrol, two Viper grunts wearing green pixelated camouflage gear were walking down the road with their weapons slung on their backs not expecting a fight. Taiyou's HUD showed him that his enemies were marked in yellow diamonds. "Looks like they're stopping for a smoke, take one, I'll take the other. Quietly." Leandros informed Taiyou as he was seen putting on a suppressor to his weapon's muzzle.

Taiyou seeing this and copied the action himself by putting his own suppressor on his weapon's muzzle, effectively keeping the sound of his gunshots to a minimum. Leandros marked his target using the Augmented Reality system and marked Taiyou's target with the other, the two would open fire when their targets are lined up, dropping them instantly leaving the road open. "Moving up." Leandros led Taiyou further up the road until the two came up by the gate of Kamiki Village.

Taiyou's visor allowed him to zoom in and observe the place, he found that the village was apparently well guarded by the Viper forces, all of whom had arachnid like goggles on them to help with IR visions and other vision modes. Some of them appear humans albeit with static glitches of Holograms interfering with their appearance. These ones wore a monocle like IR goggle on their left eye. The fog apparently obstructed their views forcing them to put on various goggles for observation of the area.

"I see...these goggles help us in various situations to see despite obstructions," Taiyou nodded in understanding. "I see how these will be important. Let's go."

"Careful, they're trying to spot us through the fog." Leandros warned Taiyou. As they came up to the entrance of the village, Taiyou switched on his suit's cloaking mode, rendering him a transparent silhouette. He heard the suit's AI voice stating "Cloak engage" for a moment before he crouched down and moved up to the enemy patrols.

Leandros had to crawl in the high grass until he came up close, with Taiyou, the two simultaneously took down two enemy patrols with their hands. Leandros's wrist compartments flipped open revealing a built in laser tonfa, he thrust the blade into the enemy patrol's heart and yanked the blade out letting the target dropped to the ground.

As the simulation drags on, the scenario becomes ever more complex with enemies spreading out but try to keep each ones within view of one another in Kamiki Village, this forced Leandros and Taiyou to take the rooftops, planned and executed synchronized strikes to wipe out their enemies one after another.

Watching them from the observatory, Anubis countdown the time using an old sport countdown watch to see how fast the two worked. He hummed in thought looking at the watch attentively as seconds rushed by like a flash with the bodycount of the enemies continue to spike higher and higher before eventually hearing the call "All hostiles terminated" phrase uttered through the loudspeakers of the simulated arena. He hit the synch button on the watch and look at the time it displayed, 30 seconds remaining out of 10 minutes run. "Not bad, shy of our best run by a mere… 5 minutes sharp. But still not a bad run." Said Anubis as he approached Taiyou and Leandros, proceeding to hug and patted them both on their backs.

"Thanks. I guess that was pretty good for a first time," Taiyou said, rubbing the back of his head a bit. He wasn't actually sure how good or bad that was, but he'd take it.

"The honor is mine, my lord." Leandros replied stating in a polite but submissive tone towards Anubis as he bowed his head before the Jackal Deity. To this Anubis patted Leandros's shoulder, allowing him to look up. "At ease Leandros, you have done well too coaching the young Taiyou. Hmmm." Anubis looked over to Taiyou as the Nanosuits visor and helmet slip back revealing his real face to Anubis. "Taiyou, how are your parents and uncles? I hope they have been well while I was gone." He asked cautiously.

"They've been well, yes," Taiyou nodded. "Still wondering what the heck happened to you though, seeing as you just sorta stopped keeping in touch."

Looking down at his own body, knowing that it was going to be a shock for Ammy and Kaito to see him again in a sudden and it was clear to Anubis that he was putting more strains on their already estranged relationship. "A lot happened. No easy ways to put it to bedtime stories but best to tell it to the family face to face." Said Anubis with an audible sigh as he grip his abdomen region feeling his stomach turns as he thought. "Let's return to Nippon tomorrow. Portal travel. I need to make amends to your parents and uncles."

[hr]

Kitsune Village, the next day…

Ammy and Kaito were residing in their humble abode together at that moment, the day was still young with the two stretching out from their slumbers and no doubt an evening of making endless love to one another. Ammy slowly rose up from bed and stretched out, yawning as she did so.

As she stretched out, a portal tear open the fabric of realities itself revealing the travelers being Anubis first and foremost, following him were Taiyou, Charlie and finally Leandros passing through the portals before it closed behind them. Looking around at the sight of the green forest in summer made Charlie whistled out in awed at the natural landscape being virtually untouched for ages bewildered him. "How do you keep the forest from overgrowing anyway?" Charlie asked Taiyou curiously while looking around trying to know if the trees were normal or optical illusions.

"A mix of some magic to restrict their growth area, and weekly checks to trim any branches and the like that grow too far into the village territory," Taiyou said simply, having remembered the time when he was wondering about that too as a kid. "We also employ a few other tricks so that while we can be a bit isolated from other towns, we can access them relatively easily."

"Huh, fancy, all the forests from where I come from took ages to grow. No fancy gizmos or mumbo jumbo needed." Said Charlie in an otherwise casual and almost pedestrian tone compared to Taiyou more dignified and noble mannerism, to the Prince of the Sun, Charlie was an identical version of him in appearance but the exact opposite of him in character.

Even the footsteps of Charlie left behind frost bitten snowflakes and ice layer on the ground. "He was never raised in royal palaces or pampered by luxuries, I wonder if it's a blessing or a curse for him." Anubis sighed out as he walked with Charlie and Taiyou towards the nearby Kitsune village.

"I think that depends on what path he chooses to take. If he chooses to live as a god, then it might be tough, but as a mortal, I think he'll be just fine," Taiyou mused.

"True. I hope that he can find first a compass for himself." As they reached the Kitsune village, the inhabitants there took their appearance with great surprises, shocks and apprehensions. The foxes and vixens stepped away from Anubis first and foremost with mumblings ran like wildfire as they reached the mansion where Anubis stopped in front of the mansion and rung the bell. He patiently waited for Ammy and Kaito to come and open the doors. Behind him were Charlie and Leandros while Taiyou stood next to him still wearing his Nanosuits.

The door soon opened. "Who is i-?" Ammy asked as she opened the door, and stopped short when she saw who it was.

"Something wrong Ammy?" Kaito called, coming over. "You sounded li-" he too stopped short when he saw who was at the door.

Taiyou sighed and stepped forward. "This...is gonna take some explaining," he said tiredly.

[hr]

The guests were soon inside the mansion with Taiyou, Ammy and Kaito being on one side of the table with tea glasses on it for their guests. Anubis, Leandros and Charlie were on the other side with Anubis kneeling before Ammy and Kaito, Leandros being a robot modeled after Anubis and a Pokemon mimic his master's behaviors by kneeling before Ammy and Kaito respectfully remaining still as a statue.

"I know what you two want to know right now. Allow me to explain…" Anubis slowly sighed out beginning to explain himself to Ammy and Kaito. "I… went through a midlife crisis." He bluntly stopped himself in an awkward manner much to their confusion before trying to restart the effort. "What I mean is that… I went through hard times, trying to distract my enemies away from you all. Circumstances did not permit me to maintain contacts. As for this… robot body… I was experimenting with advanced technologies and made a few sacrifices to master it." He sighed out to Ammy and Kaito after spilling the beans in a very condensed manner.

"Loose lip sinks ship." Leandros added to the conversation, his voice came off as a synthetic voice modulator sounding rather gruff and like a low growl but lacking a menacing tone to it. The secrecy he emphasized to Ammy's family however left them with quite more questions than time to quench them all. The robot Lucario then moved his head slightly to look at Taiyou face to face, motioning him silently to try and explain to his parents.

"Well uh mom, dad what Anubis was saying was that he wanted to tinker with something. But he his method has always been 'Take one for the team'. Hence he does something questionable to us but perfectly reasonable to him." Taiyou nervously smiled to his parents scratching the back of his head while holding the Nanosuits visor in his left hand.

"Son, that still seems… off putting to me. He's my co-husband, if he had committed sooner, but I don't like seeing him altered in anyways." Said Kaito worriedly as he stood up and came to examine Anubis's robot body with Ammy. The fox lord gently poke at Anubis's broad shoulders with a finger and stroke it down briefly to get a feel of the metal pecs. Ammy held up Anubis's right hand in her own as she gave a gentle grasp. Both the parents felt Anubis's hardened body, the metal and cold armor plates chilling down their spines. However, every now and then, they felt the muscles below the armor plates swell, contract and mellow. "Do you feel it? The artificial muscles, they can feel your warmth, your bright sunlight, your beauty. They feel alive with your presence." Said Anubis with a smile forming on his mouth as he reached out and hugged both Ammy and Kaito in tenderly.

"Okay...still gonna need some getting used to, but glad to know its still you more or less," Kaito chuckled.

"We missed you while you were gone," Ammy smiled.

"Forgive me... For leaving you." Said Anubis as he patted them on their backs letting out a soft canine whimper. Then, he would hear the sound of incoming footsteps, his ears perked out towards the Shori door as it slide out revealing two male wolves barging in a sudden, causing Charlie to scurry back away startled by it. Anubis would recognize them as Tsukuyomi and Susano-O, the two older and highly protective siblings of Ammy. "Greetings, it's been a while." He greeted them casually.

"I thought we sensed something familiar," Susano-O frowned. "Yes, it has been a while."

"Though, what the heck happened? Aside from you up and vanishing, why have you suddenly returned, and looking like...that?" Tsukuyomi frowned.

Anubis sighed out standing up from Ammy and Kaito holding his hands out defensively to the two as he cleared his throat to them. "Now I just want to make my point clear, I have my reasons but if you want to hear unbiased version, hear it from your sister." Anubis replied to them with a sarcastic tone. As Anubis moves his hands apart, they could see that his gesture and body language didn't seem to suggest that he was willing to come forth clean right away. Looking around they saw that he brought along quite an entourage of mechanical figures. A robot arctic wolf with physique similar to Taiyou only with blue highlights on his body and panels. The other being oddly enough a robot Lucario who stood out from the rest.

The two looked at him closely...before nodding. "Alright, let's hear it," Susano-O said.

"Ammy, would you please?" Anubis stood aside and let Ammy came up to face her brothers. She sighed out at their frowning and crossed her arms patiently. "Brothers please, he had serious matters, life and death mind you, to take care of. He didn't want to drag us into his personal conflicts with his rivals so he fled and laid low." Ammy stated to them slowly and patiently before looking at them directly in the eyes, she was clearly banking on the two would reluctantly agree to her words and take it for what it is. "I spilled blood to protect others. Wouldn't you do the same?"

"Still… 2000 years missing is suspicious to say the least. You need to prove that we can still trust you." Susano-O crossed his arms and frowned at Anubis with Tsuki forcefully pushing him out of the room from behind. "You two are going to regret this." Anubis grumbled and snidely hissed at them as Taiyou and Leandros watched on.

Seeing this prompted Charlie to get off his knees and ran to stop Tsuki and Susano as he got between the two and Anubis pushing them back away. "Hey hey hey! I just got here and already you guys want to pick a fight? Some hospitality there." Said Charlie as he held his black steel cudgel in hand spinning it channeling a chilling breeze blowing over Tsukuyomi and Susano-O, leaving their snouts with some frozen frostbite.

This was no act of illusion or technological trickery playing on them, they saw and felt it. The pure and unbridled element of ice flowing in the strange robot arctic wolf and for both Tsukuyomi and Susano-O they can see the silhouette of Charlie being brightly lit by blue Mana flowing in him.

"Alright, that's quite enough," Kaito said in annoyance. "Yes, Anubis just vanishing for 2 millenia is a bad spot on him, but he's back, and things are pretty hectic as is. Let's save the extra conflict for AFTER things calm down, okay?"

Anubis nodded to Kaito as he straighten out his travel cape and placed his palm on Charlie's shoulder to assure him to stand down. "That I can agree on. I've been gone for too long. What's the world like now? How is the old Kamiki Village?" He asked Kaito then looked to Ammy, assuming that she would have been the first to know about anything that happens and going on within the village.

Ammy glanced up at Kaito's face for a brief moment before looking back at Anubis, "The village has been well," she began, "It has seen the longest period of peace and the place has grown since our first met. Perhaps you would like to see it?" Ammy asked Anubis, keeping up her bright as summer smile as she approached the dark and grim jackal deity of the Afterlife.

Anubis was seen nodding to her, breaking a smile on his snout, it was a rather stiff smile but still an effort that was worth commendation as he then hugged her in a sudden, wrapping both hands around her waists. He then kissed her lips passionately with his right hand holding the back of her head to keep their mouths locked into one another. This grossed out Charlie who looked away on instinct to avoid being grossed out.


	2. Chapter 2: SSDD

Chapter 2: S.S.D.D

The trip to Kamiki Village, or rather, Edo City as of now took them through familiar sights for Ammy but wholly alien and otherworldly to Anubis as they passed through Ryoshima Coast through what were once Taka Pass, Agata Forest and Shinshu fields before eventually arriving at the growing metropolis named Edo City.

The area was a strange mixture of old and modernity, on the one hand they passed through paved roads and streets with multiple lanes for wagons and carts transporting people around. Large stone bridges over canals and rivers of the city. On the other hand, they found the people there were still dress in traditional garb like Kimono, Yukata, and other outfits depending on the class of people.

Amongst the buildings there, one structure stood out from the rest, a thoroughly traditional castle surrounded by a moat running around it with the structure itself towering over the city like a mountain, layers upon layers of walls to guard it from invaders. The only way across was a bridge into the front yard guarded by Imperial Guards, elite warriors dressed in blue colored uniforms and white kepi like hats brandishing breech loading rifles. This was the Imperial Palace and no doubt Taiyou's home in Nippon.

Once they've reached the outskirts, they found familiar farmlands and rural areas, from which farmers and peasants can see rising plumes of smoke from growing factories and industrial parks. Soon enough, they came back to old Kamiki Village but the entrance had changed greatly from the old days.

There was now a larger gatehouse guarding the narrow pass into Kamiki Village with some peasant militia walking about guarding the place. These were apparently Yari Ashigaru judging by their black conical hats with red circle in the middle front of the hat and the light armor. They were armed with Yari spears in hand as they roamed about the gate in circles.

Leandros spotted the militias as he walked with Anubis and Charlie, Ammy and Kaito were leading the way for them as the group came to Kamiki Village, or rather what was once Kamiki Village. Ammy and Kaito could tell by the sign that it was now renamed into Kamiki Town, which suggests a population growth beyond what it used to be at some point prior.

"It's a bit larger than the last time you were here?" Anubis asked Ammy puzzlingly as she nodded to him. "Yes, you know you can't keep population growth in a jar right?" She giggled at him with a joke as he nodded to her. "Well you would be right there." Anubis remarked with a smile to her as he was led by Ammy towards the gates.

The guards there upon seeing Anubis, Leandros and Charlie were quick to surround the group with their spears aiming at Anubis face and his robot family members. Much to his annoyance, he stood there nonchalantly as he glared back at the mortals. "I hope the samurai bravado helps you against steel." Anubis retorted.

"That's quite enough," Ammy spoke up. "While we are aware of his...change in appearance, he is Anubis of Egypt."

The militants quickly bowed their heads before Ammy and Anubis, making quick and desperate prays for sparring lives, seeing this caused Anubis to roll his eyes at the sight before gesturing them to stand up and resume their duties.

Once the guards opened the gates and let them in, the group followed a long winding path along the mountains with the occasional tree dotted along the way towards Kamiki Village. "How do these… humans… live on mountainous terrains like this?" Charlie asked Taiyou as he kept behind Taiyou's back trying to avoid poking his head up too high.

"Some do, others live in larger cities, others by bodies of water. As long as there's food, water, and nothing that's likely to kill them immediately, humans are usually able to live just about anywhere," Taiyou said.

"Really? I'm very curious as to how they farm in the open with their furless body wrapped in clothes." Said Charlie in a very awkward tone as he soon saw the sight of Kamiki Village proper. Rather more like Kamiki town at this point as there were more residential houses in the town with an inn for the weary travelers.

The place even had a larger storage house to keep their grains while some older establishments from Ammy's adventure now had evolved. Namely what was once Kushi Sake brewery had evolved into a cottage industry brewery hiring dozens if not hundreds of manual laborers working on the field.

Leandros for the first time came out first looking at the sight of Kamiki Town, Ammy and Kaito could see that Leandros was most curious at the sight of the old patch of turnip crop being harvested or the local dogs and canines barking or sniffing at his metal feet. "What is the personal importance of Kamiki Village to you, lady Amaterasu?" Leandros asked her curiously but his dry and monotonous robot voice made it a bit difficult for Ammy and Kaito to tell if he was sincere with curiosity.

"All I know is that this is her cult center. A sort of pilgrim site for her faithfuls." Charlie remarked as he kept with the group while poking his head around looking at the villagers who were looking at him funny. "Perhaps the shrine on the hilltop there have something significant." Leandros mused as he walked with them along the footpath up the mountainous terrain before reaching the cherry blossom tree of Sakuya. Where once stood a lonely tree now had a shrine dedicated to Ammy in the center flanked by statues Susano and Tsukuyomi statues guarding the entrance to the shrine.

Speaking of the cherry blossom tree, it was absolutely MASSIVE. Towering over the town below, a tree thousands of years old, yet still stood strong even now.

Anubis whistled in awe, for the first time in his life he saw a cherry blossom tree, the colorful pink flower petals fall gracefully from the tree along the wind. Never in his life had he witnessed a sight of similar beauty, grace and elegant. His palm trees and greeneries along the Nile pale in comparison to the beauty of the Cherry blossom tree.

Leandros in turn reached his hand out to touch the tree for the first time when suddenly the wind picked up around the tree, the cherry blossom petals were wrapped up in a swirling vortex like manner before out came the fair maiden Sakuya. She appeared just as she would thousands of years ago, nothing of her had changed, save for the blushes on her face now grew brighter when she saw Anubis.

"Ah Amaterasu, Origin of all that is Good and Mother to us all." Sakuya began. "I see you have brought Anubis to Kamiki Village, an honor to meet the strict but fair Patron of the Dead… you seem to be different. I sensed great pain and agony in the wind. I sensed the cries and screams of metallic agony and forceful altercation. I cannot make sense of any of them as they are so foreign to me." Said Sakuya in clear distress while she levitates before Ammy and co. Anubis in turn raised his head in curiosity hearing this.

"That….doesn't sound good at all," Ammy frowned.

"Not to mention doesn't sound like what Anubis told me regarding his...decision," Taiyou frowned. "Do you think someone is forcing people to turn against their will?"

Sakuya nodded to the prince of the sun as she levitated over to Anubis inspecting his robot appearance up close. "Indeed I fear so. But I have been unable to discern what exactly went wrong with them." She saw that Anubis body from top to bottom were robot armor plates with the pectoral, abdomen armor being designed to be similar to his signature jet black fur color and organic body proportion. "You speak of pain and agony, cries and screams of metal. I think I have an idea who might be behind this." Anubis remarked.

"You do?" Kaito asked curiously at his co-husband and saw Anubis nodded to Kaito. "I do. I ran into victims of this practice before. Managed to save them before further damage could be done to their minds, can't do anything to their bodies." Anubis sighed out and paused for a moment to compose himself with Charlie crossed his arms hearing this, being reminded of his own personal experiences with the Nanites and the related shenanigans he went through with it. "Apep and Kek. The duo of evil and darkness, since they found use of roboticize Nanites, they have been using it as a tool of torture and brainwashing of their victims. I use it as a tool to fight back and adapt to their methods." He responded nonchalantly with a matter of fact tone.

"Not HIM again," Taiyou growled, remembering his encounters with the toad. "So what do we do to stop him?"

"I didn't know who Kek was. Just that he's one pervy boy from Anubis stories he told me about." Charlie replied feeling himself out of place in the presence of the divine. "Careful with your words," Anubis frowned at Charlie. "It is him. I've seen it myself, his calling cards were left at most incidents involving Nanites and roboticization." Anubis tapped a button on his left wrist, which projected JPEG photos Anubis took of Apep's calling cards. A human skull with its mouth left open agape and a snake slithering out of the mouth and opened its own mouth, baring its fangs out as a show of force. "He just won't die. We never found Kek corpse anywhere, so he is still out there." Anubis finished and shut the holograms off.

"I caution you Anubis, your dabbling in the foreign idea of turning your body into machines, surround yourself with contraptions and talking puppets imitating living beings may drag you down a dark path. One that you might not able to escape from." Sakuya cautioned Anubis but he didn't seem to take her cautions well. Rather he and Leandros both crossed their hands simultaneously, mirroring each other's actions and huffed out. "Well that was helpful Sakuya. Was." Anubis and Leandros spoke in unison before turning away from her and walking down the footpath back to Kamiki Village.

"Honestly, I agree with Sakuya," Ammy sighed. "There's nothing wrong with innovation...but if you take it too far, it can only cause problems in the long run."

Anubis sighed out this as he held Ammy shoulders with both hands. "Ammy, I know what you want to say." He then looked away from her face seemingly depressed and feeling empty before lying up against the stone cliff. "But I can't reverse what I have done… you have never faced war like me. Or devote your life to lead an army, fighting an enemy who won't stop changing, adapting. The only way to even stand toe to toe with your enemy is to be like them but control it with your heart and mind." Said Anubis as he stared off into the blue sky above feeling the warm summer air giving him a sense of high.

"There are many ways to adapt. I won't say yours was worse than others, but we still question the wisdom of it," Ammy sighed, but didn't press the issue.

"It's questionable for those who live in the comforts of isolation. But for those on the line like me… it makes sense in the situation we find ourselves in." He stood up with his scepter being used as a walking cane before walking with her down to the village. "Come on, let's go find an inn. I think my kids could use a roof over their heads."

[hr]

The inn was a fairly spacious one Kamiki had, it didn't have a natural hot spring like Sasa Sanctuary but they did have an outdoor bath area with a zen garden to create a sense of tranquil serenity. There Anubis, Ammy and Kaito shared a bath while their children, Charlie, Taiyou and Leandros were packed into another.

Susano and Tsukuyomi were confined to another pond with the two observing the ponds for Ammy and the children. Tsukuyomi was observing the children while Susano was looking at Ammy's. Both of them were not at all happy with the arrangement and were especially suspicious with the two robots accompanying Taiyou.

Anubis was seen hanging his cape and Egyptian trouser on a rack before walking out naked. He appeared to retain his athletic muscular body encased in robot armor plates. The jet black cyber jackal dipped into the pool with Ammy and Kaito and sighed out, relaxing as he felt the water giving his body a relaxing sensation.

Ammy and Kaito themselves can see that Anubis body appeared to have some segments of armor plates being designed like removable panels while then the crotch plate seems to be flexible enough to show a conformed outline of his rod. "What?" He asked naively not quite aware of Kaito and Ammy's eyes curiously examining his body.

"Well...since it's been so long...how about we get...reacquainted?" Kaito suggested with a chuckle.

"Maybe healthcare. Or in my case, maintenance." Anubis remarked sarcastically before scooting over to Ammy and Kaito, wrapping his arms around them and pulled them in, resting their cheeks against his own while moving his right hand to grab Ammy's breasts while his left reach down to fondle and tickle Kaito's genitals.

While then Charlie was seen laying chilling himself against the pond wall. Taiyou saw that Charlie's body once in contact with water seems to have snowflakes blooming out of his presence. His body radiates chilling icy cold particles and an aura of snow and frost in contrast to Taiyou and Ammy's warm sun radiants. "So you guys like learn how to be deities in dedicated schools and academies? Never thought being a god require diplomas and decrees." Said Charlie with a confused shrug.

"Recorded data entries of Imhotep Academy shows that Anubis graduated with a Magnus Degree in Military Theory and Administration." Leandros mused to Charlie while mindlessly reciting data logs he had in his noggins before looking at Taiyou to run a data reference check. "Taiyou, birth name: Chibiterasu. No records regarding his education or certificates and majors." The robot Lucario stared blankly to Taiyou.

Taiyou sighed at that. "To answer your question, no. There are no schools for deities, though we are free to pursue them if we want. In my case, I learned everything I know from my parents, family, and the various travels I went through, including my time under Anubis."

"Really? That's pretty odd there. Anubis said that in Greece and Egypt they got schools for young deities like him to attend. And he even attended one when he was a pup." Charlie remarked with a shrug while Leandros cocked his head to the side curiously hearing this from Taiyou. "In short: homeschooling and live experiences from personal adventures." Leandros mused on the matter as he waded over to Taiyou and inspect the deity's body. The robot lucario gave a few presses on Taiyou's muscle and pectorals before traveling down to his abs. "Firm and toned body, ideal proportion for robot wolves designs and specifications." He mused casually in front of Taiyou.

"And before you even go further on that, I have no intention of doing anything aking to robotization," Taiyou said flatly. "I won't question your decisions too much, but please respect my decision to remain as I am."

"Yeah you heard my… step brother… guy… deity thing… please just don't touch him like that you're gonna give me an erection." Said Charlie defensively as he held his hands out trying to stop Leandros. "Correction: we do not require your body to be roboticized. Only a donation of your seed and essence is all that we need to continue our work." Said Leandros with Charlie rolled his eyes in annoyance at how the robot Lucario didn't seem to have an idea of privacy. If this was Ammy, Leandros might have been slapped already for his hand movement on her breasts.

After taking their baths, the family came back inside the inn for dinner, by the table Anubis for the first time and quite awkwardly for him, sitting seiza style for a meal with his hosts Ammy and Kaito. Sitting with him were Charlie and Leandros. Ammy and Kaito had Taiyou sat with them while then her brothers Susano-O and Tsukuyomi on her left hand side where they can glare at Anubis from across the table.

"Interrogative: does this hurt one's kneecaps and legs?" Leandros asked Ammy and Kaito curiously as he couldn't feel his robot legs being strained in fact he wasn't sure if this were kneeling or sitting. "I've seen Anime and mammals from Tanukio before but never actually thought about sitting like one." Charlie remarked.

"It's a bit tiring at first, but you get used to it," Taiyou shrugged.

"Speaking of which...what's the story behind you two?" Kaito asked curiously.

"I'm quite curious about that as well," Ammy nodded.

Hearing this caused Charlie to make a nervous smile if he could sweat then he would have done so. "Uh hehehe…" He chuckled sheepishly. "It's a bit funny story for me I'm not sure if you can wrap your head around it." Hearing this only further annoyed Tsukuyomi and Susano-O. "Well I uh was just a mortal in Zootopia one day, living my normal life and the next I was made friends with an alien robot A.I who robotized me to save the city from some villainous threats. Then the next thing I know, Anubis came and adopted me then reveal that I'm his… uh… son reincarnated or something." He paused for a moment seeing Ammy and Kaito blunk and stared owlishly hearing him, he shrugged and held his hands up. "Uh… awkward." Said Charlie.

While then Kaito and Ammy shot their glares at Anubis with suspicion at his supposed infidelity while Tsukuyomi and Susano-O were chuckling amusingly to this. "Ooooooh busted." Susano muttered. Anubis in turn kept his composure before reassuring Kaito and Ammy. "It's a long story but don't blame the boy. I lost him once to ravenous murderers in knight's clothing and holy cross as their defense. His mother and him were murdered the day he was born. I gave him a new life, reincarnation to have a second chance at something he did not have." Anubis sighed out.

"I am LU-C4510 Leandros, Field Command Unit custom made by Anubis to be his lieutenant. My duty is as followed: provide the Jackal Guards robots with field command, gather and disseminate intelligence to combat units, conduct direct action missions either attached to a team or alone." He bowed his head briefly to Ammy and Kaito to demonstrate his respect for both of them.

"So...basically our reincarnated step son, and a robot helper/warrior?" Kaito summed up.

Charlie nodded to Kaito and kept his nervous smile on. "Yeah. Sort of like that. I didn't know I would have a nine tail fox for a step dad either. But cool I guess." Said Charlie with a sheepish facial expression, he felt awkward and rather oddly out of place. "I want to have Charlie in the Egyptian Pantheon, where the majority of his family belongs. But it's difficult since he's the deity commanding snow and ice, things that Egypt doesn't have." Anubis added to which Charlie nodded. "Yeah but I guess being a god in training is weird still for me. At least I won't have anything erotic happening between me and Taiyou." He blurped out with Anubis sighed out disappointingly with his head looking up at the ceiling while Susano-O and Tsukuyomi grumbled hearing Charlie's words.

"Yeah...I'll pass. Even if we're not biologically related, I'm not really into that...and I'm already married," Taiyou grimaced. "I'd rather avoid doing anything like that unless my wife is aware."

It was then that the atmosphere was liften when a servant came into the room with a gong that he banged, signifying that their meal has arrived with the table being filled with sushi, sashimi, rice, steamed buns and hams. Fine delicacy of all kinds for the finest of faraway lands. "Let's dig in." Kaito declared as they began to feast on their dinner. Surprisingly enough for them, Leandros apparently could eat with them, he seemed to be able to ingest fresh water and sushi rather casually with neither haste nor hesitation.

By the time they were done with dinner, the children were in their own bedroom where Taiyou showed Charlie and Leandros how to sleep like common folks in Nippon while Anubis, Ammy and Kaito were in their own bedroom. Charlie and Leandros were surprised to find that there were no beds of he usual kinds in the room, there was only the floor with Taiyou showing them a large futon for three.

"I asked if they had individuals, but unfortunately they don't," Taiyou sighed as he started unrolling the futon. "And yes, here to save room we do not use beds in the traditional sense. These Futons are foldable mattresses that we store away after use each time," he explained.

Leandros being an ever curious robot came over inspecting the Futons before lifting up to inspect it, seeing that it was like a sleeping bag he would have had at home to practice survival with. He then gently cuddle up inside it and let Charlie and Taiyou come inside the Futon with him. "It is rather comfortable. I feel very warm and relax in here." Said Leandros as he gently came over to Taiyou's side and wrapped his arms around the thin and slender robot lucario frame. "Oh great you want to be hugged like a plushie to remind people how cute you are." Charlie sarcastically remarked. "By the way, you mentioned you were married right?" Charlie asked profusely to Taiyou, who nodded to him in return while hugging Leandros. "Well yes, my wife is an ascended mortal. She's currently back in the Greek world right now doing some visits and blessings for them." Charlie blinked and felt awkward by it. "Really?" He asked tersely. "Yeah I should have told you that she was a Greek woman, I fell in love with her and well... turns out she had what it took to ascend to Godhood and be with me." Taiyou finished.

"I never thought the realm of the most divine would be this exotic. But I guess that's better than incest between deities in your own pantheon." Said Charlie with a sigh as he held the bed sheet over his chest and shut his eyes, entering his sleep mode to hibernate.

[hr]

Far from Kamiki Village in Nippon, halfway across the globe a sinister plot was being hatched. Toiled for months and endless days, the forces of evil gathered in a castle tucked away on the scenic Alpine mountains. Sitting on a commanding position overlooking the nearby village below it, the Gothic stone citadel could only be accessible by cable car.

And yet no fortress was impenetrable as a crow flapped its wings flying towards the fortress. The guards below were too busy monitoring the stone bridge and security checkpoints to care, this gave the bird the chance to approach one of the towers and slipped in unnoticed.

The most telling detail of the crow was its feather, though dark as night as it should be, the avian was apparently having metallic shine on its feathers. He soon morphed into an anthro form, revealing himself to be a robot, or rather synthetic entity. The Abyssal Crow, dreaded alter-ego of Ra, a split personality taking on a life of its own with its own body.

The entity effortlessly melt into the shadow of the tower and traveled like the wind throughout the castle, snooping on an important meeting.

The meeting was being conducted by humanoid figure wearing a bright blue military style uniform with a steel helmet complete with a shiny reflective chrome mask obscuring his entire face. Attending the meeting were a female robot naga, a robot bull with hulking stature and a robot anthro wolf looking identical to Taiyou only with darker color.

"Ladies and Gentlesnakes!" The man began with a shrieking nasally voice. "After countless failed schemes by our Canaanites predecessors, I have proposed that we pursue our latest scheme in a more creative manner!" He shrieked out at the top of his lungs while the Abyssal Crow emerged on a dark causeway above to listen in on the Medieval looking dining hall that they were using. "Instead of overly relying on a single kind of power to win our foes, we will have a combination of technological superiority and dark magic!" He balled his fist and held it up to emphasize his words.

"Interesting plot they have there." The Crow mused while stroking his chin. "What are you proposing that gives you an erection?" The robot Naga hissed at him causing him to throw a tantrum at her. "Ugh! Baroness! Can you just stop with the sex jokes? That's degrading towards ME!" Cobra Commander shriek to her. "That's rich seeing that I tormented two poor wolves for the fun of it." She coldly shot back, "And you love one of them." He hissed back at her, earning a dark glare and a frown.

"As I was saying, we will commence a massive archaeological excavation campaign aiming to uncover the link between this and the other realm known as the Abyssal Void." Hearing this, the Crow shot a stunted glare at Cobra Commander's face and looked at him with a frowning expression. "That can't be good. Mother will not be pleased." He muttered.

"I will take command of the excavation conducted in the New World, Baroness can have the Indian Subcontinent and Bulltron can have Asia and Persia. Think you can handle this without screwing up again like the last time?" Cobra Commander asked the robot wolf with his hand pointing at him with a deadly glare.

"Hmmph. Consider it done." Said the robot wolf in the exact same voice as Taiyou. Only this one was much more contemptuous, impatient and didn't seem at all taking his leader seriously at all. "Then dismissed! Get out of here you twits and get to work! I WANT MY EXCAVATION DONE NOW!" Cobra Commander shrieked out loud, his voice echoed throughout the halls of the castle prompting the Crow to fly away to the nearby village.

[hr]

As the morning came to Kamiki Village, Leandros and Taiyou were seen by a riverbank where Leandros was tossing rocks and pebbles skipping across the water surface. The robot Lucario was aiming his shot once again, planning to hit a nearby bottle before throwing it, he saw the pebble skipped across the water before hitting the bottle into the river. He then dived into the river, swimming towards it to set it up for Taiyou's turn.

"Gotta admit, its kinda strange seeing you do these kinds of things," Taiyou chuckled, picking up the pebble and skipping it across the water.

"Most of my existence since activation so far has been education and military drills." Leandros remarked as he watched the pebble skipping across the water before hitting the bottle, but this time, before he could dive into the river and pick up the bottle, his left wrist beep and buzz with a call. "That's the emergency update." He tapped a button on his wrist panel, activating an ionized holographic video call from the Abyssal Crow and his mate Abyssal Scribe. "What is the situation on the ground?" He asked the Crow.

"There has been a meeting between high ranking members of COBRA. Cobra Commander has dispatched his subordinates across the globe in search of something. One of them stays in the castle of Paderborn here to conduct excavation of relics relating to the Abyssal Void." The Crow briefed him, followed by the Scribe leaning in to disclose further details. "Clearly they are trying to plunder my workshop in the Abyssal Void. The swines!" the Scribed growled with a synthetic tone.

"Uh...Leandros? Who are these two?" Taiyou asked, looking more than a little creeped out.

"Oh, pardon the mannerism, allow me to introduce myself, I am the Abyssal Scribe, an alter ego of Thoth and head of advanced R&D department. This is my mate, the cunning Abyssal Crow." The Crow in turn bowed his head to Taiyou with a grin on his face.

"To put it short, we are alter egos of Ra and Thoth. We took on a life of our own, split from them and won our autonomies. They don't like us but they know they need us for things beyond their understanding." The Crow and Scribe both appeared to take Taiyou rather well, if not a bit strong on the creepy side. While they seem to be rather acquainted towards Leandros to the point of being able to contact him directly. This suggested to Taiyou that things were not what they seem anymore in the Egyptian pantheons.

"I feel like there's a big story behind this, yet a part of me isn't sure I want to know…" Taiyou sighed. Seriously, this just felt off. "I think it's time we do an introduction." The Abyssal Scribe uttered with a grin on his face as he snapped his fingers opening a portal to the nearby Marina of Kamiki Town, from within the portal, the Scribe came floating out casually with his book in hands, he recorded with lighting speed the many details of Kamiki Town's more traditional housing designs with wooden structures and rooftops covered in hays. He came towards Leandros and Taiyou and grinned at the two. "Ah. So nice to see you two again, and in this lovely little town? Oh, would it be fun to make the populace here run screaming." He chuckled and crooned menacingly while tapping his book.

"Please don't," Taiyou said flatly.

The Scribe chuckled to Taiyou before giving his head a noogie and casually repeat the action to Leandros whose ears twitch and rotate around despite being robot ears. "Scare you didn't it? It's just how I have my fun." He chuckled lightly before crouching down to Leandros and give his metal chin a scratch with his long and sharp talons. Leandros pant and leaned back down on the soft grass to let the Scribe pet him.

"I regret to inform you that your vacation has been cut short." Said the Scribe nonchalantly to Leandros. "I am aware of the development." He remarked. "Now then you must be Taiyou isn't it? A pleasure to meet you in person." The Scribe slyly winked and extended his hand to Taiyou for a somewhat courteous handshake.

"Yes, that's me," Taiyou said, shaking his hand. "And you?"

The Scribe then bowed himself down in a theatrical display of respect before standing up. "The Wise knowledge seeker of the Abyssal Void. Yogsothoth, Abyssal Scribe in service to the host pantheon of Egypt." The Scribe, or Yogsothoth stated in a fancy faux gentleman tone to Taiyou. He then went around Taiyou and stare his avian robot optics uncomfortably close to Taiyou's athletic build and toned body.

He ran his hand gently along Taiyou's back feeling his muscle masses and fur. "Hmmmm, a much loved build, yes this fits perfectly with the Nanosuits I built." Said the Abyssal Scribe as he reached his hand down to grab hold of Taiyou's toned rumps, only to be swatted aside by Leandros. "Scribe, report to Anubis for approval of operation." The robot Lucario reminded the Scribe, to which he nodded. "Lead the way then, you two."

"And keep your hands to yourself," Taiyou added with a small glare as he and Leandros lead the way.

The two led the Scribe with them back to Kamiki's proper where the Scribe's appearance gave the peasants and simple folks there a chill, they all kept away and looked at him with apprehension as he casually strolled behind Taiyou and Leandros. "Ah the fear and uncertainty of mortals. Just what I need for a hearty spiritual meal." He cackled before finally arriving at the old home of Susano where Anubis was seen being pitted to a weight lifting contest with Taiyou's uncles Susano and Tsukuyomi.

The Abyssal Scribe caught sight of Ammy and let out a swooned sigh and whistle, he quickly flipped open his book and used the holographic pages to draw an image of Ammy's idealized nude body with slightly exaggerated breast size and hourglass like proportion. "Hello there beautiful, how wonderful that a God of the dark moon like me to meet a fine sun maiden like you." He crooned to Ammy as he held up her hand and kissed it gently.

"...normally I try to be polite, but just one look at you and I can tell we're not going to get along," Ammy said dryly. "I'm going to assume you're an associate of Anubis, yes?"

"Why yes you are correct. And it seems that I have some… competitions for his attention, this should be quick." He snickered before snapping his finger, sending out a sonic pulse that stunted both Tsukuyomi and Susano. Unfortunately Anubis was affected in the process as he lost focus with his weight forcing him to place it down with a loud and strong thud. "My lord, I have some words for you, important matter if you will." Said the Scribe as he gently came over to Anubis, the jackal deity grunted and got up to his feet with the Scribe helping him up. "What news from your station that you have to come here personally?" Anubis asked.

The Scribe then leaned next to his ear and began to utter in cautious tone watching his noise discipline while the uncles got up to their feet seeing the intrusion of the strange dark deity next to Anubis. "My lord, it seems that our old pal Cobra Commander is working on something, an archaeological project spanning across the globe it seems regarding the Abyssal Void. Hehehehe. If I were you I would toss a wrench into his plans." Said the Scribe to which Anubis nodded. He then looked back at Susano and Tsukuyomi and planted his hands on his hips looking at them. "And it seems I've found the pretty moon deity of Nippon, a pleasure to meet a counterpart." He winked teasingly at Tsukuyomi as he stood over him.

"...get this thing away from us before we return it to you in the scrap heap," Susano-O snarled.

"Agreed," Tsukuyomi said dryly.

Hearing this the Scribe chuckled at the two as he stood in front of them biting his talon tauntingly. "Oh please you two are only overreacting at me." He chuckled jokingly to them. "Madam, if I may, Leandros is needed elsewhere for a special assignment. If Taiyou is interested he may join on the little adventure, anyone of you can join. If you're interested, that is." He snidely remarked with his eyes darted over to Taiyou with an unblinking glare as he stroked his chin. Leandros then came up to Ammy and bowed his head to her out of respect, "I apologize for the abrupt departure. But my duty entails the constant vigilance and sometimes abrupt end to social downtime." Leandros stated to Ammy with a dry but polite tone.

"I have no objections to coming along, but keep your eyes and hands to yourself," Taiyou frowned.

"Well, if you want to do so, you are free to," Ammy mused. "Be careful though."

The Scribe bowed his head to Ammy respectfully before lifting her hand up to kiss it gently. "I will see to their safeties, m'lady." He snickered and winked at her. "Oh, and when I get back, perhaps you could entertain me with encounters of tengu of your land." He chuckled to her with a sly tone. He then opened a portal for him, Taiyou and Leandros to cross over before he too crossed over it and sealed it behind him.

Taiyou found himself inside an inn somewhere halfway across the globe, the furniture was made out of wood with circular wooden tables and chairs, the fireplace had a deer's head hanging on the wall with the logs of wood burning a strange dark purple flame. He then noticed a dark crow like figure sitting in the corner of the inn.

The figure stood up and levitated out to them for a greeting, when he came into view Taiyou saw that the crow like figure was apparently a robotic being. His appearance was almost identical to Ra but his body being shiny jet black metal with strange runes running on his armor trouser plates hiding a round bulgy metal crotch plate. On his chest, he had a large unblinking robot eye looking at Taiyou and Leandros.

The avian deity appear to give off a purple eye glow as he bent his knees to take Leandros hand and shook it. "Greetings Leandros, and Taiyou. A pleasure to meet you both in my humble abode." Said the Crow with a smooth suave voice.

"The pleasure is ours," Taiyou said politely. "You are…?"

"I am… Ra, the Eternal Sun of Limbo." The Crow bowed his head to Taiyou in a theatrical manner before rising up cackling to Taiyou, his scepter while similar to Ra appeared to have a tentacle wrapped around its length all the way to the top where an eye was apparently looking at both Leandros and Taiyou.

"Or for the sake of simplicity, Abyssal Crow if you prefer. I am a spawn of Ra, fed off of his ego and quirks." He chuckled with his tongue licking his large crow beak. "With the help of Anubis I was given this body to inhabit, and graciously serve the host Pantheon. I owe my existence partly to them and autonomy to Anubis and Thoth, whom the Abyssal Scribe spawn from." He finished by offering Taiyou and Leandros a sit by the table.

The two of them did as they were offered. "You were created from Ra? And the Scribe was created from Thoth? How did that happen?"

"Long story my dear boy. To put it short, there is a realm beyond the living and Underworld. A parallel universe that you could not possibly understand right away. My home realm, the Abyssal Void." The Scribe sat down next to the Crow with his book placed on the table, the pages flung and projected a holographic scene of the Abyssal Void, one that seems to appear dark, cold, desolate with strange runes running all over the place. What was odd was that it appeared to have the same layout as the Inn they were sitting in.

"The Void Mother rules, our Mother. From whom our consciousness was seeded into Ra and Thoth and we developed, fed off of their darker sides before finally able to take control of their bodies as dominant consciousness. Temporarily, we must share lovingly afterall." The Scribe chuckled out loud as he felt the Crow rubbing his thigh sensually.

"Indeed, we are like alter-ego, symbiosis so to speak. We live in their bodies, when we take control temporarily, we keep ourselves in the dark so they'll go on with their lives none the wiser." The Crow added as his hand now reached up to stroke the Scribe's chin.

"...I'm not sure what to say about that, but the gist is that you're basically parts of their personality made real, right?" Taiyou sighed.

The two Abyssal avian deities nodded to Taiyou while maintaining the calm and casual composure. "Indeed. We are… identical to say the least. Think of Ra and Thoth's personality, then think of how twisted and strange they are and you'll see." The Crow finished his statement with a throat clearing as he then placed on to the table what appeared to be a coin with the Head facing upward. The coin appeared to bear the image of an octopus with the coin projecting a holographic map of the Gothic like castle built into the mountainside.

"This is the Typhon's Den, the castle of the paramilitary order known as COBRA. Their leader in the region is leading an archaeological expedition out of this castle. My eavesdropping of the castle and snooping around showed that they may have recovered artifacts from my home realm. Not an ideal situation, I couldn't steal anything lest I risk they prematurely ending their dig, so bringing you in as muscles… might seem like a good idea to steal something." Said the Crow as the map highlighted critical structures of the castle, including a cable car that was their only way in and out.

"What are these relics?" Taiyou asked. "And why are they so important?"

The Abyssal Scribe raised his index finger and with a moment of concentration he shot up a spark of light into the ceiling, covering the room with a holographic illusion presenting Taiyou with what appeared to be a semicircle, derelict and decayed. "The Gate to the Void. I believe they are looking for a way into the Abyssal Void. Whatever they intend to have, they must be denied. For abuse of power can only be mutually assured destruction." The Scribe stated to Taiyou in a straight to the point manner.

"I see...yes, that WOULD be something we wouldn't want to allow to happen," Taiyou nodded. "Alright, I'm willing to help, but what will we be expecting in there? Any info would help."

"Expect guards, expect traps, expect alarms and hidden chambers. All things considered, lots of treasures to plunder. But eyes on the prize." The Abyssal Crow sternly stated with a wicked glare. He then stood up from the table and led Taiyou and Leandros to the rear of the inn, in the backroom there appeared to be two wine barrels with a black XXX sign on them.

"We'll smuggle you in via these. Then you two find your way to the archaeological control center, archive room of the 2nd floor should be your first look. That's where the commander of this castle tend to frequent. You'll find precious materials stored there, a hit list with your name on it perhaps?" The Crow crooned seductively. "There are many things to find there. But be sure to keep in mind a map and a list of places they want to excavate along with the hit list. Those should help." He finished before opening the barrels for Taiyou and Leandros to climb in.

"Alright, but first let me put on the Nanosuit. I get the feeling that I'm going to need it," Taiyou sighed.

The Scribe smiled before snapping his fingers, opening a portal to obtain the Nanosuits from Egypt. Seeing it already, Taiyou sighed and without much hesitation, removed his own clothes first leaving him naked and ready. With the Nanosuits in hand, he then held it before Taiyou's body and saw how the suit simply disintegrated into particles before reappearing on Taiyou's body, forming boots, tail cocoon, pectoral armor and abdomen protection, metal crotch plate, armored knuckles and helm with a snouth ballistic mask with breathing apparatus. He had a red visor over his eyes allowing him to use the suit's HUD and digital support systems. "There you go." The Scribe stated.

"Thanks," Taiyou said simply. "We'll see what we can do," he said before climbing into the barrel.

"Remember, Fortuna favors the bold." The Scribe reminded them, with that the two Abyssal deities then lifted the barrels up using their telekinesis and carried those to the nearby delivery truck of wine shipment into the castle and waited for their plan to prove fruitful.


	3. Chapter 3: Typhon's Den

Chapter 3: Typhon's Den

The trucks have delivered them into the castle as expected, a smooth delivery run but now they would find that proceeding forward would be the hardest part. Still hiding inside the cargo truck's bed, Leandros slowly emerged from empty wine barrel, he saw that there was a lone guard in front of the truck, the guard apparently was taking a smoke on his own.

The blue robot Lucario slowly crept forward close enough to the Cobra Guard in navy blue uniform and helmet, his wrist panels slide open revealing what appeared to be two cylindrical projectors built into the compartments. They ignited the Ionized Tonfa blades of Leandros and he quickly lobbed the guard's head flying off leaving the corpse to fall flat on the floor in its pool of blood.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Leandros stated in a deadpan manner as he hopped down from the truck bed and confiscate the guard's weapon and cocked the bolt to check the ammo within.

On the outside, it appeared to be a crudely assembled weapon with a muzzle shroud peppered with heat dispersion holes, two duct taped stick magazines and a collapsible stock. But Leandros could tell that this weapon was better than nothing. He looked back inside of the truck and cocked his head, gesturing for Taiyou to come out of hiding.

Taiyou slowly got out, likewise making sure they were well hidden. "Remember, we're here for the hit list, map and anything related to the Abyssal Void. Archive room, 2nd floor this wing." The robot Lucario reminded Taiyou before taking point, leading the way for Taiyou. As they came to a staircase Leandros pointed upward for Taiyou to take a different route and cover Leandros from above.

As Leandros entered the ground level of the archive room, he found what appeared to be an office work space with cubicles and computers, but there was no one there to work, which was odd. Leandros looked around, opening drawers to search through the files for the hit list. "Taiyou, you found it yet?" Leandros asked Taiyou while Taiyou was searching through what appeared to be a luxurious office and lounge space filled with archaeological findings from the Age of Chaos.

"Nothing so far. There's a LOT of information in here," Taiyou frowned.

"If I were a hit list where would I be?" Leandros asked himself out loud when suddenly his ears perked and twitched. His head flipped up when he heard the thundering footsteps of incoming guards. "They're coming!" Leandros alerted Taiyou with his right arm grabbing the submachine gun he had on his back and turned towards the entrance.

He saw a horde of guards swarming in firing at him with their weapons trained on his very metal frame. His reflex and motor system kicked in, making him dodging bullets and dashed aside to a nearby pillar. He then peaked out and quickly let loose a hail of automatic bullets splashing the guards to pieces before he slid into the supply shed behind the room.

"Somebody scrap that mangy mutt!" One of the guards shouted as he moved to surround the entries of the Supply Shed. "Move out of the way! You're blocking my shot!" Another guard shouted as his squadmates move around obscuring his shot while taking up positions around the supply shed.

Taiyou at the same time quickly activated his Celestial Brush, the world stopping around him, before he created a Veil of Mist to slow down their movements, followed by several Cherry Bombs which destroyed a good number of the guards, or at least disoriented them, with some of the more robust ones getting cut apart by a Power Slash.

"We're taking heavy losses, dispatch reinforcements now!" Their commander called out on his headset to the dispatcher. "Affirmative commander, back up on the way to you now." The operator replied. Leandros at that moment was grabbing himself a better weapon from the armory and ammo from the supply shed. He quickly dashed out brandishing the COBRA's standard issued Assault Rifle, the infamous 'Cobra Fang' Rifle.

Essentially a slightly modified AK-103 with duct taped magazines, an ACOG scope with powerful punches from a fairly light frame. Leandros dual wielded two rifles and sprinted out to the far end of the room and quickly performed a combat slide kicking one of the Cobra trooper's feet throwing him in the air and peppered him with bullets from both rifles.

However, their team work would soon be cut short when the office Taiyou was in suddenly had force fields generated on the windows and doorways save for one leading out into an alternative hallway. Taiyou would see that Leandros himself was on his own fighting off waves upon waves of enemy guards before they broke their assault when casualties ran too high.

"Get out of here Leandros! I'll find another way!" Taiyou called out.

"We'll regroup near the supply shed. ETA under 5 minutes." Leandros replied to Taiyou and began to sprint out of the doorway to find his way out. Taiyou in turn would begin to sprint out of the office and heading down the hall however he found that the security barriers were breathing down on him, sealing off one passage after another, almost like herding him to a dead end.

As he ran around the castle's Gothic stone halls decorated with tapestries, banners and suits of Medieval armor. Soon enough, Taiyou found himself heading into what appeared to be a gilded cage of what could possibly be the prison wing of the castle. There he saw that there was a rather high tech looking Robot standing in front of him.

It was jet black with a clear anthropomorphic wolf aesthetic and a stubby tail as counter weight. Not only that its eyes were staring at Taiyou intensely as the door behind him locked him in with force field barrier.

"Hello Taiyou… I've been expecting you for a long time." Said the robot wolf with a sinister cackle, its voice was a stinging realization for Taiyou that this was no ordinary robot. For it was the voice of Eclipse coming out of its mouth.

"It can't be…!" Taiyou gasped in shock and horror. "Eclipse?! But we destroyed you millenia ago!" he said, a mixture of emotions filling him. Shock, disbelief, and a feeling of panic and terror too. Even after all these years, the memories of what Eclipse had done to him and Kassandra still haunted him.

"Ah ah ah. Destroyed, but I was revived. And you didn't know how good it felt to be back." Eclipse grin as he spread his mechanical legs out assuming combat stance before pummeling forward at Taiyou, slamming him into the cell bars before grabbing his face to slam him on the ground repeatedly. "Bigger and better. That's what I am now fleshy. And what's this? A Nanosuits on you? Guess old daddy Anubis didn't forget to pamper his boy." Eclipse grinned sinisterly as he grip Taiyou's face and snout.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Taiyou growled through the pin, anger coming forth from being manhandled before he slammed his foot into Eclipse's chest, sending the robot skidding back. "I haven't been sitting on my laurels all these years," Taiyou glared defiantly as he used several of his brushes in quick succession, pelting Eclipse with fire, lightning, and ice.

With each strike, Eclipse was stunned and staggered back, with each time he staggered back he began to reel but then clamps on his heels slammed down on the ground locking him in place and he began to open fire on Taiyou using a shoulder mounted minigun. The hail of lead pelted Taiyou's Nanosuits, causing the muscle fibers of the suit to harden and form a bullet proof barrier bouncing some shots off. "Warning: Critical threshold approaching." The Suit's AI warned Taiyou, causing him to growl. Anubis HAD said this armor was still experimental, so it must not have a particularly high threshold. He had to do this quick.

"Had enough? We're just getting started." Said Eclipse boastfully as he held up his palm with a cannon dialing in on Taiyou's chest.

"Don't worry. I haven't even begun to fight," Taiyou growled, before he seemingly sped up, well beyond what a Veil of Mist could do, and was suddenly next to Eclipse, who soon felt several sword strikes courtesy of Taiyou's old Solar Sentinel sword, the mystic blade well maintained and pristine as it was back in the day, and as a result, still capable of causing damage even with all the advancements in technology.

Getting some range following that, Taiyou let loose a mix of gunfire and his Rosaries flying at Eclipse, pelting his body with the projectiles.

"Damn you!" Eclipse growled as he fired off his cannon at Taiyou, however the pelting by the Rosaries caused the shot to miss its mark and landed on the bars and wall, blasting a gaping hole through the structure revealing the exterior of the castle and its mountainside terrain.

Taiyou didn't let up, continuing the assault, right up until Eclipse managed to catch him in the chest, sending him flying back and into a machine, which he then grabbed the smaller wolf again, and threw him aside.

Taiyou groaned as he got up, glad the suit was protecting him, or that would have hurt a lot more. Of course, the suit's warnings weren't exactly...supportive, but it would have to do for now. He had to meet up with Leandros.

"You're not going anywhere, I've been waiting for this for too long to fail!" Eclipse snarled as he slammed his feet on the ground, cracking the concrete and stone floor before his chest panels flipped open. Within his chest there were a pair of generators like devices that emit intense heat, microwave. It pierced Taiyou's Nanosuits protection making him feel the heat burning and tearing him, an irony that sting. Then Eclipse dialed up the Microwave and intensified the heat directed at Taiyou.

Taiyou growled as the warnings blared, but he acted quickly, using the Blizzard Brush to freeze the generators, forcing Eclipse to shut it down and seal it back up.

"You're pretty annoying with your resistance Taiyou. But I always have preparations made for all eventualities." Said Eclipse as he snapped his fingers, the sound of the snapping apparently activated a teleporter device placed underneath the floor of the room. The machine created a loud mechanical whirring sound with electric shock sparking up as they were engulfed in its brilliant blue light of thunder and lighting. It teleported them to a different area of the castle to a reinforced glass dome shape room that seem to look like a lab.

"Welcome to my bedroom Taiyou, let's have some pillow talks then shall we?" Eclipse then slammed a fist into Taiyou's face slamming him back against the glass of the room before bending down grabbing Taiyou by his neck to choke him. But he didn't seem to intend on killing Taiyou outright but apply just enough pressure to make Taiyou pass out.

Taiyou gagged, but he wasn't about to give up so easily, and in a fast show of nimbleness, he managed to flip in the chokehold, getting the grip loose, and kicking Eclipse in the face, sending him back. Taiyou coughed, but quickly glared at Eclipse, ignoring the warnings his suit was giving him. "I don't know what you think, but I'm not the same wolf I was 2 millennia ago. I'm not going down THAT easily!"

"Oh really now? Wanna bet?" He taunted Taiyou before his right thigh compartment slide open, revealing what appeared to be a dark purple sword. It looks identical to the Kusanagi blade but here it sparked dark purple lighting once held by Eclipse. The robot then slammed the sword on the ground, sending flow of electric shock at Taiyou and zapped his Nanosuits. The currents seem to go over 60,000 kV to overload his suit's protection.

Taiyou grit his teeth as he felt the electricity surge through him, but pulled out the Sunslayer and ran forward, charging up the Blizzard Brush once more, and struck the sword, causing it to freeze, and damage the internal circuitry. The electricity stopped, while Taiyou was left panting, the warnings increasing.

Eclipse smirked at the sight, and surged towards him, landing a strong kick to his gut, sending him back. "Like you said 'I'm not the same wolf I was 2 millennia ago' and today we get to relive the gay old time." Eclipse grinned sinisterly as he moved to grab Taiyou, the wolf catching his arms and holding him back, straining his suit, while Eclipse grinned and triggered another energy surge from his body, this one lighter, but at this point it would be enough.

Taiyou grunted as he strained against his opponent's greater strength, the HUD blaring critical warnings, before a flow of energy started to enter, at first seemingly not causing any issues, before errors started to occur, systems started to fail while the HUD was soon scrambled, it experienced glitches and malfunctions before finally Taiyou felt the systems shut down, sparks flying from his suit, before he felt a weight lift from his body, the suit falling apart as the nano machines could no longer hold together, and soon exploded off of his body, leaving him naked before Eclipse.

"Checkmate," Eclipse smirked, before he exerted more force, pressing down on Taiyou who was soon slammed into the ground, followed by Eclipse grabbing him by his chest fur, lifting him up, and then throwing him aside. "Let's see how long you last without the Nanosuit," he smirked.

Taiyou coughed and gasped, but he quickly got to his feet, his Sunslayer at the ready, while he prepared to use his brush. He knew full well this wasn't in his favor, something that made a part of himself shake in fear...but he had no intention of going down without a fight, a feeling that made him stop shaking. "Bring it," he growled defiantly.

"Come and get it but you'll regret it." Said Eclipse with a huff as he then lunged Taiyou, speeding up till he was faster than the wolf could react and slamming him against the glass before proceeding to punch him in the gut and then tossed him across the floor. "Ooooh looks like I may have gone a bit overboard there. But hey at least you still look damn pretty." Eclipse then spanked Taiyou's rump as he grabbed Taiyou's shoulders and pinned him against the glass with his back was pressed up against Eclipse's firm and broad robot chest. "Doesn't this bring back memories?" he smirked.

"Memories I'd rather forget," Taiyou growled as he struggled, fighting to get free while he tried to banish the memories that were coming up after so long. Using a quick Power Slash, he forced Eclipse to let go.

"Aww, now you're making me all red with anger," Eclipse smirked, and Taiyou noticed the air starting to heat up...or rather, it was coming from Eclipse's body which was rapidly heating up. "You must be cold without your suit. Come on, let me...warm you up!" Eclipse smirked, before surging forward, Taiyou doing his best to fend him off, but after a few tries, Eclipse managed to get behind him, loop his arms around his shoulders and pin him against his body again...which by now was glowing hot.

Taiyou howled in pain as he felt the heat against his back. Even as a sun god, he wasn't COMPLETELY immune to heat that was made other than by himself, his limbs thrashed as he struggled to get free, but Eclipse held him close. The torture held on for a few moments before Eclipse let go, Taiyou on his knees panting, his fur scorched...before he was kicked in the side, getting knocked into the nearby glass which cracked on impact as he fell to the ground.

Taiyou gasped, but shakily stood up, intent to keep fighting. Eclipse saw that and chuckled. "You always make it so hard. Good, it makes breaking you fun," he smirked, before he knocked Taiyou aside again, the wolf by now barely able to defend himself from a mix of the damage he'd sustained and the sheer strength difference. From Eclipse's back, several tentacles emerged, and lashed out, wrapping around Taiyou, and pulled him closer, till he was once again pinned against Eclipse, the wolf growling and struggling...before he felt a surge of electricity go through him. Taiyou howled as his back arched, the electricity causing his body to spasm, before after a few moments it stopped, leaving Taiyou panting in Eclipse's grasp. "Like that? Just a little something to get you excited," Eclipse smirked, noting Taiyou's nipples and penis had started to get hard involuntarily thanks to the shock. Taiyou glared in defiance at that, too weakened to properly speak. Eclipse smirked and proceeded to shock him again, stopping after a bit then doing it again and again.

Taiyou howled in agony as he felt the energy surge through him, memories of pain and humiliation coming up as he struggled futilely to get free till finally Eclipse grew bored and threw Taiyou aside, the wolf was barely able to get up by then.

"Looks like we make a pretty cute couple don't we? Much better if we share Kassandra." Eclipse taunt Taiyou as he cracked his knuckles circling Taiyou, he then picked Taiyou up by his neck before strapping him onto a metal bed for experiment purpose. His arms and legs were stretched apart in an eagle spread pose. His wrists and ankles were locked by metal braces keeping him restraint in place. "Look at your pretty body, so beautiful, soon...we will share it." Eclipse stated sinisterly as he fondled Taiyou's genitals. The metal fingers lifted and stroke Taiyou's penis and rubbed it, giving Taiyou a handjob to make it erect to full mast.

"S-stop it!" Taiyou grit his teeth, his voice starting to sound desperate, to which Eclipse just smiled and continued fondling him.

"Much better, you'll help me give birth to a new dawn, no longer will I be commanding an army of hapless mooks." Said Eclipse with a grin as he then stood back away from the restrained Prince of the Sun. That was when mechanical tendrils slithered their ways to Taiyou's body, they begin to wrap around his penis length while others slithered over to attach their suction cups like tips into his nipples and belly buttons.

Another tendril grappled and hold his penis inside a plastic tube that was transparent, the tube was linked to what appeared to be a device made for the express purpose of milking and suckling him.

The other tendrils latched onto his testicles and once all were in place, they began to stimulate his body with static electricity, shocking him at just the right amount before the suckling device suckle his penis hard trying to draw as much semen from him as possible.

Taiyou groaned, trying to resist, but as it was, he'd been weakened too much from the torture and the stimulation. Eventually he was howling as he climaxed, the unwanted pleasure causing his seed to be released, a feeling of despair welling up in his heart as he remembered a time similar to this all those centuries ago, him defeated and raped, his body used and abused to his tormentor's delight.

The semen they stole from him began to fill up inside glass jars one after another with him kept conscious enough to watch the process playing out. "Ah our future Taiyou… all it needs now is some… splicing." Eclipse then pressed several buttons on the control panels and Taiyou would see that there were needles being lowered into the glass jars filled with his semen, each syringes were filled with Nanites, all of which appeared to have a shiny silver grey liquid metal texture. They injected themselves into the jars, infecting Taiyou's semen with Nanites as they multiply, assimilating until it all became a large thick gooey mass of Nanites inside the jars.

"There we go. Your essences and from it an entire army of advanced robot wolves in your image and power. But under my command." Eclipse glared at Taiyou intensely as he began to caress Taiyou's cheek.

"Now then, let's get to work getting along, shall we?" he smirked.

"What?!" Taiyou glared. That was when Taiyou would see the robot Eclipse standing before him seemingly open on its own, the mechanisms shifting and moving to the side, creating a form that was hollowed and more like a robot suit than a robot in the usual sense. "W-what are you doing?!" Taiyou gasped, a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

True enough, the tentacles that were holding him in place removed him from the table and shifted so that his back was facing Eclipse, and before he could struggle, he was pulled back and inserted into the hollowed out machine. The robot would then strap Taiyou into place with the internal wires snapped around his wrists and ankles, followed by around his waist and neck, pulling back so he was snug against the hollow suit.

"This is…!" Taiyou gasped, before it finally hit him. "No! You can't…!" he gasped desperately, struggling to get free with whatever energy he had left, more memories assaulting him. Tied down, pain running through his body as it felt like it was on fire, desperately struggling to get free as he was made to watch, strength fading and then ...nothing. However, his struggles were for naught as the panels soon folded back, and locked him inside the suit as if it were a more advanced iron maiden only this one can walk and he can't control its functions.

Once inside he would see that the HUD of the robot suit light up allowing him to see what was in front of him, functions like navigations, conditioning, weapon selections and so on were all present there similar to his Nanosuits.

The two most notable differences however soon come to them when one of the tendril lifted Taiyou's stubby tail segment upward as it slithered up to his anal cavity, with its tip at the ready, it lunged forward, crawling into Taiyou's tail hole and lodging itself into his bowel, causing him to gasp, before his muzzle was shut tight, as well as several wires slithering over his body, and even suckling on his nipples and penis, while he felt a ring affixed to his head and an energy flowing through him.

That was when Taiyou felt like his mind was leaving his body, his consciousness was high, floating and flying away from every fiber of his beings until he was no longer able to see what was in front of him anymore with the blinding white void was all he could see.

"Welcome to the play field Taiyou, where we can indulge in memories undisturbed. Play it again, Taiyou. For old time's sake." Eclipse grinned as he watched Taiyou being bound to a crucifix with his body stretched out, naked and the pristine white fur free for Eclipse to violate and touch however he pleased.

Eclipse appeared as he used to be in terms of physique but Taiyou saw that Eclipse now appeared to have shiny chrome like synthetic skin over him. On the synthetic surface of Eclipse's body, Taiyou could see various circuit board patterns like they were drawn onto Eclipse. "Now then...let's begin," Eclipse grinned as he ran a hand over Taiyou's chest, stomach, and then crotch, before he floated upward, a grin on his face as he closed in on the helpless god.

XXXX

Dark and damp, wet and cold, freezing and metallic, the air conditioners were the only thing that kept the smell of rotting flesh filtered out. The chamber was lit up by blue cold light of a technical lab. Around the place were test beds with mechanical arms and prods above them testing and dissecting on the remains of putrid flesh and half dead victims of live and inhuman experiments.

Leandros was held up on one of these beds, having his face punctured and with the LED glass dented, broken. He had his wrists and ankles restrained in place with mechanical prods removing his weapons and gadgets one by one while he witnessed his possible death before his eyes. The sparks of welding torches crackled and fizzled his HUD. He felt his body was being slowly dismantled piece by piece when suddenly, a dark figure emerge from the floor before him.

At first it was a small shadow, faint and barely noticeable shadow melted into the larger masses cast on the ground by surgery lights. Then from the faint shadow, it grew larger and larger, taking on a mound as it rose up from the ground.

It began to take the form of a slender, thin and angular avian with a long curvy Ibis beak. Its arms and legs began to materialize, coated in a jet black and slightly dark purple hue armor. On his shoulders there were a pair of ibis motifs standing upright looking out at either of his sides. On his pauldrons however were octopus motifs etched with fine craftsmanship of the macabre.

He seems to look identical to Thoth in every way save for the dark and sinister appearance, the purple LED optics and the perverse grin on his face as he looked down on Leandros's vulnerable form. "Oh my, it seems that we may need some modifications here, Little One. Fear not, for I've yet to cast you aside." The Scribe stated with Thoth's voice but having a lustful tinge to it as he glare intensely at Leandros, his eyes scanning down the robot Lucario's frame from torso to crotch. "Assistance required for re-assembling." Leandros replied to the Scribe with a static and damaged voice box, almost like he was desperate.

"Oh fear not Little One, for I have your back all the time." The Scribe stated cheekily as he flipped open his Book of Arcane Arts, the holographic pages flipped by before stopping by a page of Technomancy, the Scribe's right index finger tapped on the page and lifted upward with its tip glowing a dark purple lighting bolt. He used the bolt to strike at the mechanical arms, grinding them to a halt, preventing the total destruction of Leandros.

"Hmmm, let us see the damage now." The Scribe would then leaned his face closer to Leandros, much closer to almost uncomfortable range as he inspects Leandros's internal synthetic organs like lungs, beating heart, mechanical skeleton frame and vocal module. "Hmmm nothing but child's play, this will be done in no time." Said the Scribe with a cocky huff escaping his beaks as he cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms out.

First he stroked his thumb across the air horizontally, this summoned a holographic wall of hieroglyphs, there were various numbers and readout symbols running across the wall as he began to dance his fingers on the hieroglyph wall, this began to manipulate the mechanical arms and prods to repair and reassemble some components for Leandros. With his arms and legs were the first to be restored to their full operational capacities.

But as they worked on Leandros, there were components that were trashed by the fighting and mechanical arms dissection. The Scribe sighed out disappointingly at these as he nonchalantly snapped his talons, summoning a pack of tendrils from the Abyssal Void that he held from. They reached up to Leandros, snaked into his body, reassembling new components into his body with their wet and slimy body texture.

The cold synthetic tendrils crawled about in Leandros's body, touching and probing his synthetic organs causing him to experience jolts, slight pain and at times sudden knee jerk reactions causing him to lean his head backward. Soon enough, they began to reassemble his chest armor back together before dislodging the locks on his wrists and ankles allowing him to walk once again.

"There you go. So much better now that you're able to walk free. Now let's get to our Sun Prince shall we? Oh and do take care, with only your laser tonfa blades remaining, best not to jump into conflicts too often." The Scribe stated to Leandros with a sigh, annoyed at the thought of losing Leandros to enemy guards again. "I know what to do. Lead the way." The robot Lucario replied with the Scribe melt into a shadow and begin to lead Leandros out of the chamber.

"Oh and let us not forget, your friend is in danger and his captor seems to have an awful lot of fun tormenting him. Shame it wasn't me. Go there and rectify the problem." the Scribe instructed with a huff as he highlighted the location of Taiyou on the holographic floor plans for Leandros to navigate his way to.

XXXX

While then, within the Mind Scape where Eclipse and Taiyou were seen together, Eclipse was seen fondling Taiyou's body, especially his genitals. Eclipse smiled sinisterly as he gripped and squeezed them gently while forcing a kiss on Taiyou's lips, the wolf groaning but unable to resist as he was bound against the crucifix, Eclipse free to use him as he saw fit. Several tentacles extended from him and began draining his energy as they wrapped around Taiyou from various angles.

"Oh what was I thinking, maybe you were wondering about that tin can Pocket Monster of yours weren't you? What? I'm replaced by that thing?" Eclipse asked rhetorically to Taiyou, threatening and intimidating Taiyou's morale...though the way he did that had...questionable results.

He then snapped his fingers, summoning a screen for Taiyou to see the sight of the cybernetic experiment lab, the security camera footage shows Taiyou a lab full of rotting corpses being carted off to be processed or half finished cyborgs. Then he can see the sight of Leandros being ripped apart, piece by piece reduced to near scraps in brutal and painful fashion while Eclipse chuckled maniacally to the sight.

He hoped that watching it would demoralize Taiyou completely to the sight of seeing his friend being systematically tortured and killed in one go. But his enjoyment of torture porn suddenly grind to an end when suddenly, Eclipse saw the sight of the Abyssal Scribe intervening and rescuing Leandros from death. "NO! NO! NO! WHO IS THAT INTERLOPER!?" Eclipse shouted out madly.

"Guess your plan isn't as foolproof as you thought," Taiyou smirked, still doing what he could to resist, even as he was restrained and unable to move. "Leandros isn't going to let you get away with this and neither am I!"

Angered and enraged by this, Eclipse slapped Taiyou across his face with a harsh slap. "Quiet you! He may have cheated his way out of the chamber but he won't get to you. That I can assured and we'll be together forever." Said Eclipse with a grin on his face as he snapped his fingers once again, alarming security in the cell block area.

Watching the security camera footage, Taiyou could see that the cell block and its chambers like the aforementioned Cyber Lab, Asylum and their own holding cell had increased security in the form of security robots patrolling the area. These appeared to look like walking skeletons with skull like head. Their dark grey skeletal frame radiate sickly green color as they marched about, armed with experimental Gauss Rifles that fired off matching emerald green energy beams.

When they began to walk about patrolling the halls, they appeared to have a stiff marionnette like movement with the wooden stilted pace. Leandros on the other hand was nowhere to be seen on the cameras, seemingly disappeared from sight, "IMPOSSIBLE! Where is that tincan puppy dog? He couldn't just disappeared into the thin air!" Eclipse growled as he flipped through the various camera footage trying to spot Leandros.

From halls to security sheds, from asylum wing to experiment areas, nothing. There was nothing in sight that suggest infiltration and sabotage to him. It was odd and troubling and he knew it. "Where is he? That puppy couldn't have done it. He wouldn't just leave you now, would he?" Eclipse returned his gaze to Taiyou in the mindscape. He suddenly stopped at a security camera in one of the guard office where he saw the Cobra guard manning the watch there was dead. The man apparently slumped over with his face planted on the table with his own knife planting into the back of his neck.

"Anubis does good work, doesn't he?" Taiyou couldn't help but smirk. Even if he didn't like taking lives, he knew when it was necessary, and right now, Leandros didn't have a choice in the matter.

While Eclipse was furiously looking through the security cams, Leandros was busy at work crawling through the air vents heading in closer to the torture chamber that Taiyou was locked in. Once the robot Lucario was above the chamber he ignited his blade and sliced through the air vent's metal like a hot knife through butter and dropped down. He stomped his metal feet on the glass, shattering the ceiling before proceeding to slash the wires in the room causing malfunction and short circuits to Eclipse Robot Suit.

The sparks of electricity fire firing off from the transformer box caused the Iron maiden like suit to quickly disengage itself from the tubes and wires that were reading the suits and Taiyou being locked inside of it and began to walk around stomping the floor circling Leandros. "Release your prisoner or I will forcefully subjugate you." Leandros snarled at Eclipse who in turn made a sinister huff of amusement.

"Or what? Are you going to drive your little rod into my rear? You would make love to Taiyou as well in the process you know." Eclipse taunted Taiyou as it began to pummel forward trying to ram Leandros. The Robot Lucario quickly leapt into the air, making an acrobatic landing before Eclipse as Eclipse ram into the glass wall of his personal chamber, cracking the glass. "Your refusal to cooperate requires me to dismantle you. Piece by piece." Leandros replied nonchalantly as his wrist panels flipped open revealing the ignited tonfa blades. "Oooooh. Somebody's a bit possessive of little Taiyou here." Eclipse remarked.

Inside the suit Taiyou sweat dropped a bit. Leave it to Eclipse to turn this into innuendo. However, before he could think further he felt energy run through his body, and if it weren't for the fact his muzzle had been shut tight, he'd have started shouting as he felt his energy being drained. Outside, Eclipse suddenly sped up, and landed a punch on Leandros's chest, sending him tumbling back. "Oh, I forgot to mention, with him inside here, I've got a nice little power boost," Eclipse smirked.

With Leandros being slammed against the glass wall causing him to grunt painfully from the impact as he then landed down on his feet before picking himself up. He wiped the broken glass shards from his body before focusing his vision on Eclipse.

"Hostile action measured. Retaliating." Leandros quickly power dashed his way towards Eclipse, zigzagging left and right before approaching Eclipse's before before swiping his tonfas at the robot suit. First he struck the thighs slashing the armor plates off before quickly slashing the back of the suit, exposing the wires underneath.

The robot then landed on his feet before Eclipse seeing his enemy grunting and staggered back by the strikes. "Well played. Still trying to save your beloved Taiyou, eh? You two are like a bad romance joke. But one I can't get enough of." Eclipse remarked before he stood up with the shoulder panels opened up, revealing a pair of swarm missile pods.

"Multiple Missile threats detected, engaging ranged combat option." Leandros disengaged his tonfa blades and held up his palms charging the palm mounted cannons built into his limbs. As Eclipse fired off his missiles, Leandros fired his cannons at the pods detonating the remaining missiles inside and the shock wave threw Eclipse flying out of the room and slammed against the wall. "Surrender now and I may offer mercy. Slightly." Leandros threatened Eclipse as he slowly walked out of the smoke screen left behind by detonated missiles. He saw Eclipse standing up slowly with the weapons on the robot suits being broken or uncontrollable thanks to Leandros preemptive strike. "You're becoming an annoying chatterbox puppy boy! You and Taiyou share a bed?" Eclipse snarled madly at Leandros.

Inside the armor Taiyou groaned. This really was feeling like a bad joke. Not that he could actually do anything about it right now. He was just glad the armor was thick enough that none of Leandros's attacks were harming him...not that he couldn't handle some pain.

"Oh my my my. It seems that we have a sexually frustrated entity. Overcompensating much?" The sinister suave voice of the Abyssal Scribe uttered ominously as he began to rise up from a bubbling mass of shadow and purple haze next to Leandros. He would soon morph and take shape into the anthro robot Ibis with his book tucked in his armpit. "You hurt MY Leandros and I disapprove of such aggression." The Scribe would then set up a hieroglyph wall and fired off his Eldritch Assault magical attack through the wall. The energy glyphs slammed into Eclipse's chest causing the robot suit to stumble back and failing to maintain balance for itself.

The Scribe would then slide forward with terrifying speed with his index finger glowing with one of his spell, he struck Eclipse's chest with the Dodge and Condemn spell locking the robot suit in place while Leandros grabbed the chest panels of Eclipse's robot suit and ripped it off, revealing Taiyou's bare torso. Seeing this, Leandros hastily grabbed the headpiece of the suit and pry it off revealing Taiyou's face in the process, albeit still muzzled so he couldn't speak.

"Rescue in progress, please wait." Leandros remarked nonchalantly to Taiyou who gained a slightly deadpan look as he continued dismantling the robot suit of Eclipse. Eclipse continued to fight back as much as he still could, but bit by bit the parts of the suit were torn off, revealing more and more of the captive god inside, till finally only bits of armor and wiring kept Taiyou attached to the suit, which Leandros quickly ripped off, freeing Taiyou from the grip of the automated Iron Maiden, the wolf hitting the ground with a groan after the draining. "How do you feel Taiyou? Glad to be rescued by your beloved Leandros?" The Scribe snickered playfully.

"Glad for the rescue. The innuendo...not so much," Taiyou groaned as he got up shakily, his body feeling weak after the draining. "Still...thanks Leandros," he said with a small smile as he finally got to his feet.

"Yes but walking around in this naked body won't do you any good. Well except for fanservice to Leandros's optics but then again he's rather stiff in his tastes." The Scribe chuckled playfully, he then used his left index finger like a knife as he slowly cut a hole through the fabric of the universe and realities. He stuck his hand through it to reach for something and soon came back out with what appeared to be a large black cube with green circuit board patterns on its surface. "My wardrobe of experimental suits, you can borrow one and go to town with it." Said The Scribe as he then used his Telekinesis to have the Cube levitate over to Taiyou's chest.

Once it was close enough, the cube began to liquidate itself and wrapped itself on Taiyou's chest. The liquid spread out across his body forming a hardened robot body around Taiyou's body with the head being a dark robot wolf with purple optics for Taiyou to see through the metal encasement. On his back, his Reflector was locked into the back of the robot suit acting as a energy source to power up the suit while he stood there breathing steadily.

"Ahhh that is much more bearable now don't you think?" But before Taiyou could respond in kind, the robot suit suddenly raise its hand and grab hold of Leandros's crotch plate while the robot Lucario simply stood there unphased by it. "I forgot to mention it has a mind of its own in down times. Namely when near someone or something it finds… appealing." The Scribe mused cheekily.

"Gee...thanks…" Taiyou said sarcastically, pulling the arm away, and getting some distance from Leandros. "Sorry about that," he added apologetically.

"Apology accepted. Though I did not feel violated by the act." Leandros replied to Taiyou. "You two better get going, I recommend the Gondola to get down the mountains. Meet me in the Raven's Rock tavern in the town. Good luck." The Scribe would then tap on the foreheads of Taiyou and Leandros marking them the location of the Gondola cable cars near their current location before melting away into the shadow once again.

"First thing first, arm up." Leandros stated to Taiyou as he then turned around to lead the way for Taiyou into a nearby armory where Taiyou's divine instruments were stashed alongside a plethora of weapons and equipment.

As he examined the weaponry there, Leandros immediately grabbed a pair of automatic machine pistols and inserted them into his thigh compartments intending to use them akimbo style. He then equipped himself with an SMG armed with a flashlight and a magnifying scope on the top rail.

Taiyou would see that Leandros didn't contend with the meager firepower rather he grabbed additional webbings and satchel packing grenades and semtex explosives. Finally the robot Lucario equipped himself with a high velocity weapon that apparently fired sharp harpoons that can stick targets onto walls. "I suggest you take additional firepower here in the armory just in case. We'll have to fight through heavy security in the Cable Car station." Leandros warned Taiyou as he pointed Taiyou to the various weapons on display.

The first one Taiyou saw was labeled "XM-32 Particle Cannon" with a pan like magazine attached to an angular piece of metal. It's unknown what effect does the weapon inflict on its target. The next one Taiyou could see was a weapon labeled "HM-25 Hand Cannon", a weapon with horizontal side mounted magazine with ammo capable of blowing everything flying into the wall. "This is quite a weapon cache they have here," he frowned. "Any suggestions?"

"I would recommend the Particle Cannon and Hand Cannon. The former can strip target of all flesh and blood leaving them a charred skeleton. The latter can obliterate barriers in one blast." Leandros stated to Taiyou as he handed the Wolf with the two weapons and began to walk out of the armory to find their ways to the Cable Car station.

"Taking the stairs will be too long. We'll have to use the elevators." He suggested to Taiyou as the robot led his companion towards the elevator door. There, Taiyou saw Leandros pry the doors open with both hands, they saw that an elevator was one floor down and was staying still in place.

"No point in holding back, let's jump." He ushered Taiyou as he jumped head first into the shaft and landed on the elevator's roof, the impact caused the elevator to shudder, Taiyou's landing however quickly sent the elevator snapping and falling down towards the lower floors before the brakes kicked in and grind it to a halt within the shaft.

"Not a very bright idea Leandros. Let me handle it this time." Said Taiyou with a shrug at Leandros. The wolf in dark purple robot armor would then pry the elevator door open slowly. He would see that the floor they were on seem to have large generators buzzing and whirring, the loud mechanical humming seems to suggest that they were at a critical section of the castle. "I don't see anyone guarding this place, let's go." Taiyou stated, leading the way forward for Leandros for a brief moment as the two slipped out of the elevator shaft.

The air was thick with steam and the heat of machines working tirelessly to provide electricity for the castle and its various wings. As the two navigate their way using the holographic floor plans on their HUDs, they would soon come to the Cable Car station. "Cable Car Station has been shut tight for security reasons. We'll need to unlock it from the security booth." Leandros assessed the situation as he observed the station from the catwalks vantage point at the back of the station.

The two would see an area crawling with fleshy guards most of whom seems to have helmets and battle mask covering their entire face and a set of goggles that looks like arachnid eyes. They were covered from head to toe with state of the art combat uniform, weaponry and armor. These were the elite cream of the crops troops dispatched to keep the area secured. "ATTENTION! There has been a prison break and I demand all security teams to be on high alert! I want you to detain Taiyou and his faggot robot boyfriend and bring them to me as soon as possible!" Eclipse called out on the P.A systems of the castle warning the guards to be on high alert.

"Two laws I learned, Strike hard, strike fast. No mercy." Leandros stated half jokingly to Taiyou before leaping into the air and stomping down on an unfortunate guard beneath him. His metal feet crushed the target chest cavity and cave in his cranial area before Leandros dashed forward, zigzagging around from cover to cover.

"Threat sighted! Team get to cover and suppressive fire!" The team leader of the guards shouted as they scrambled to flank Leandros and open fire on him with a hail of automatics, tearing apart the benches, barricades and lamp posts of the station with their bullets, leaving them oblivious to Taiyou's presence in the area.

Taiyou frowned a bit but quickly followed. They were following Leandros, so he could catch them by surprise if he worked with the opening Leandros made. Taiyou would see that the enemies were trying to pin down Leandros who leap through the window of the security booth, the robot Lucario kept himself down and returned fire with his SMG popping up and down in intervals. The enemies tossed in a grenade to flush him out, forcing Leandros dive out as the grenade exploded, ripping the booth and the controls inside apart.

Taiyou himself found the opportunity when a pack of 4 enemies were lined up, allowing him to use his Power Slash brush technique against them. With the world basked in a canvas texture once again, he used his ink calligraphy to draw a straight line across the quartet of enemies, it soon morphed into a Power Slash that terminated the four of them instantly with the four exploded into bits of reptile flesh and meat.

"He wiped out the whole squad! Team fall back! I need reinforcements now!" The team leader ordered on the comms as they began to reposition themselves to avoid further casualties, Leandros in turn quickly covered their retreat by jumping on to a platform and rain bullets down on them, finishing the squad in a fell swoop. His magazine fell down on the ground with his barrel heated with visible smoke rising from the shrouds.

"We're clear for now. But we're stuck since the security booth is busted." Leandros stated disappointingly as he walked over to Taiyou and huffed out before inspecting the various cable cars available there and the exit was closed with reinforced steel gates. "I don't have the explosions to destroy it, but I think your cherry bombs might be able to blow through it." He assessed.

"Alright, stand back," Taiyou nodded as he created five Cherry Bombs, which soon rolled towards their targets and exploded, destroying the gate. "We'd better hurry. No doubt someone heard that."

Leandros nodded to Taiyou as he then led the young Sun Prince into a gondola in the station, within it, Leandros lifted a panels on the floor of the gondola, revealing the wiring of the vehicle's engine and electrical system. He then moved his mechanical fingers in and tweezed the wirings, ripping out some and crosswire them to start up the gondola.

Taiyou would hear the rumbling sound of engine sputtering before the cable car began to move out of the station. Following the cable cord out of the mountainside station and down the valley to the drawbridge at the bottom of the valley. As they make their ways down, the buzzing sound of enemy aerial drones can be heard. And much to their chagrin, the humming of an advanced anti gravity engine.

Taiyou and Leandros saw a hooded metallic figure descending upon them, as the figure came closer, they saw that it appeared to have a blue mechanical skull under a hood and the torso was gun metal grey. In its hand was a large glowing teal scythe, Thanatos as Leandros would be able to recognize by the motifs. The now cybernetic death God of Greece dive bombed on the cable car's roof and slashed off the magnetic grapplings of the gondola.

"What in the world?!" Taiyou gasped. "Wasn't that Thanatos? What's he doing here?!" he said in alarm. "No one escapes my scythe!" Thanatos declared loudly as he swung his scythe again tearing the cable car apart, leaving them to fall into the chasm below. As they fell down, Taiyou's armored suits suddenly hardened with its synthetic muscles swell out to absorb the shock and impact of the fall.

As the two fell into the stream below, Taiyou felt the cold water splashing up to his helmet as the stream carried him downward to the nearby stone pillars of the bridge, he saw that Leandros was tumbling around in the river stream, struggling to gain control of his orientation before the stream could slam him into a rock.

Using a mix of Vale of Mist and Greensprout, he managed to make some vines which pulled himself and Leandros to the side of the stream, managing to pull them to the edge of the stream, and with a heave, pulled them out of the water.

Leandros was seen heaving as he was pulled up to the riverbank, the robot Lucario shook the water off of his frame like every canine before coughing out a bit as he sat down on a rock, looking up to the sky scanning for Thanatos who was still prowling the area for their signs. "Thank you,we must maintain mobility. Hostile Unit Thanatos is still hunting us at the moment." Said Leandros.

"Right. Still...what in the world was Thanatos doing here...and as a machine at that?" Taiyou frowned as they continued moving.

"Data entries of Thanatos stated he was terminated by Anubis roughly two years ago during a skirmish on Gotland Island. Possibly revived here as a machine. Advise caution." Said Leandros as he struggled to stand up with his weapons being mostly flown away in the current of the stream, handheld at least. He still had his built in weapons in his robot body as he led Taiyou into a nearby cavern where the water seems to pour into.

The cavern seems to have elevators and carved out footpaths for patrols to go about looking for them. "Halt, enemy sentries are coming down." Leandros alerted Taiyou to the sound of a descending elevator.

"Right. Are there any alternative paths, or do we have to fight our way through?" Taiyou asked. Sure they could fight, but being only two of them, it'd be wiser to avoid direct conflict as much as they could.

"We fight them. No way around this." Leandros remarked as he then led Taiyou with him to the nearby stone wall and ducked behind it, as the elevator open its doors Taiyou saw that to his horror there were mechanical enemies in the fray at this point. Towering robots lurching forward like a hunchback with four red optics and a decidedly slanted angular raptor head. Each one of them was armed with a powerful Plasma bolt rifle similar to the ones that Leandros encountered as they fanned out and began to patrol the area.

"Weapons free." Leandros signaled Taiyou as he impaled one of the robot's head with his tonfa blades and climbed onto its body to use as a jump platform to base jump into the ceiling. There he fired off his palm cannons at the two other robots knocking them back into the chasm below, leaving two more robots scrambling to engage him as the robots fanned out to block Leandros escape routes however, they failed to keep an eye out for Taiyou.

Taiyou frowned, but quickly made use of his Power Strike brush, cleaving the robots apart, leaving them to fall to the ground in pieces. "Fortunately their armor isn't particularly strong," he sighed. "Are there anymore coming?"

Leandros quickly jumped onto the platform and rolled into the elevator, holding the door in place for Taiyou to enter the elevator with him before hitting the button to the top floor. "Not unless I'm holding the elevator. Let's go."

With the elevator reaching the top floor, the two would see that their enemies were scrambling to secure the checkpoint that they passed through before, the hostile forces were seen building up behind concrete block barricades. Vulture like combat drones flying around shooting at them in strafing run, cratering the concrete road in the process. Much to Taiyou's dismay, however, he would see Thanatos was circling above like he was observing the two.

"They don't let up, do they?" Taiyou frowned, using his Rosary to fire beads at the drones, shooting them down. "We'd better get ready though. I can imagine Thanatos isn't here just to watch."

"I'll flank around to distract them, you punch through the barricades and clear a path." Said Leandros as he began to assemble what appears to be a bent metal pipe, when one of the drone flew close enough, he tossed it up, clogging the engine of the drone. The vulture drone began to sputter and its engine was set ablaze with it crashing down into the river stream, exploding in the process. Leandros then performed a combat slide into the nearby pillar, finding a guards weapon rack nearby and grabbed a rifle from the rack and began to make stop and pop shooting.

"Watch your back," Taiyou nodded before running to the barricade. The troops there moved to stop him, but his new armor blocked the damage.

"Look here comes the bad sun tan plan!" One of the enemy guards shouted pushing each other out of the way only to have Taiyou smashing through the barricades sending them flying away like bowling pins while others were desperately firing away at Taiyou armor, only to see their bullets bounce off harmlessly. They broke and ran upon seeing that their weapons were ineffective against Taiyou while other specialists began to fire off multi barrel rocket launchers at him to stun and stagger Taiyou back.

Taiyou frowned when he saw those coming, and quickly used Veil of Mist to slow down time, followed by Power Slash to send the rockets back. The projectiles were sent streaking at their shooters, blasting the overhead metal causeway and security checkpoints to bit leaving them an open way out, one that was soon blocked by Thanatos landing down before them.

"I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I WAS hoping you wouldn't get in the way," Taiyou growled, pulling out Sunslayer. "But if I have to fight you then so be it!"

"I don't care about right or wrong. All I care about is my goal." Thanatos remarked coldly brandishing his scythe, twirling it in hand as he levitate before the both of them with his wings seemingly holograms that can lift him off the ground quite easily.

"Bring it," Taiyou frowned, before the two charged forward and met in the middle.

Thanatos would then glide over to Taiyou and Leandros with his scythe glowing brightly teal. This was a sign of his signature weapon being powered up and ready to harvest, he swung the scythe and already Taiyou can feel the impact of the blade slashing across him, his armor was able to harden itself and prevented the worst of the strike.

Leandros in turn jump into the air and pounced on Thanatos face, staggering him back somewhat before wrapping his thighs around Thanatos neck pinning the winged God of Death on his back and jabbed his fists into Thanatos face repeatedly.

Taiyou didn't sit still either, taking advantage to shoot Thanatos from various directions, while at the same time summoning one of his glaives and dual wielding that and Sunslayer, delivering several quick strikes when he got closer.

Thanatos roared in anger, before swinging his scythe, forcing both Taiyou and Leandros to jump back to avoid the attack. The cyber death deity then tossed his scythe at Leandros first, apparently knowing that the robot Lucario was the lesser of his opponents but a vital support lynchpinch for Taiyou, the Scythe stunted Leandros and kept him frozen in place.

"I'm coming for you!" Thanatos menacingly snarled. "System failure, cannot move. Vulnerability increased." Leandros sputtered as he struggled to will himself to move, only to have Thanatos flew to him and prepare to scythe him again.

However, Taiyou was faster, and using Vale of Mist, intercepted the attack. Gritting his teeth, he fought against Thanatos, blade straining against the scythe. He grunted as he was pushed back a bit, but he wouldn't give up. He was determined to protect his ally, and with that, pushed back.

Thanatos growled mechanically as he pushed against Taiyou, shoving him aside before swinging the blade around in a hurricane like manner throwing Taiyou back while Leandros broke free from Thanatos's stun effect. He then fired his palm cannons at Thanatos' side throwing him against the front of a cargo truck. "I see you wish to die." Thanatos exclaimed.

The robot Lucario however soon saw Thanatos taking flight, prowling the sky like a drone, clearly to dive bomb on the most vulnerable of the two, which was obviously him. The robot Lucario began to run for overhead cover and make a dolphin dive into the nearby weapons shed for the guards to find shelter from Thanatos as he dive down. "Nice try." Thanatos grinned delighting in the prospect of slamming down on Leandros to finish him.

Taiyou however saw that coming and once again used the Veil of Mist to give him time to intervene. He tried to use Power Slash to try and slow Thanatos down, but this move seemed to be one he couldn't cancel out, and as it was, he couldn't get Leandros out of the way. With that in mind, he got between them right as time resumed. His armor hardened as he tanked the strike...and found that this was a bit different.

"What!?" Thanatos sputtered confusedly when he found that his strike was intercepted by Taiyou and the scythe only seem to have tear off portions of Taiyou's armor and didn't hit Leandros's frame. Instead Leandros was still unscathe as he drove his laser tonfas into Thanatos' body, smashing through the torso panel of the God of Death and emerged through his back, this left the deity frozen in place.

"This is… not over yet! I will never stop looking for you!" Thanatos growled out with his synthetic voice module being short circuited. This was followed by Leandros shoving him back down on the ground, leaving him to have electrical sparks firing off of his wounds and his body twitched.

"Glad that's over," Taiyou sighed, idly fingering the missing parts of his armor, the side and abdomen region having been torn off. So far it had kept him safe still, but it seems it had its limits too. "What do we do with him now?"

"Leave this place naturally, regroup with the Scribe and Crow at the designated safehouse in the village. That is our only chance to escape." Said Leandros as he stood up over the robot body of Thanatos before leading the way with Taiyou back into the mountain side village.

The area was misty and cold with the villagers being a mix of Celtic and Germanic Norsemen hiding in their home fearing additional reprisals by the occupation forces. The winding and twisty alleyways led Taiyou and Leandros around to the back of an inn, one named "Raven's Rock", with the sign of a Raven standing on a rock with its head looking sideways being a giveaway for the safehouse. There Leandros knocked on the door with the peep hole on it and speaks the password.

"The raven has sighted the jewel." He said, and soon enough the door opened inward with the Abyssal Crow standing in the way grinning at them. "Welcome back the both of you, come in please and tell me of tales of courage and sexual tensions." Said the Crow as he levitate in mid air with his left leg crossed over his right leg.

"Courage is somewhat questionable, and sexual tension is non-existent," Taiyou said flatly. "But suffice to say, we ran into a problem in the form of a robotic Thanatos, who apparently is supposed to be dead, yet somehow nobody is making a fuss in Greece."

"Oh trust me young prince, they've been a fuss in Greece for a while now with Hades, Thanatos, Ares, Arachne and the likes gone rogue." The Crow nonchalantly stretched himself out as the two came into the place where he found that the Crow had a fire place already lit up for the two to warm themselves up. The door behind them was closed and locked up by a tendril emerging out of the literal wall.

Leandros himself sat down in an armchair and was offered a glass of fresh water by the Abyssal Crow as he sat down with the two, the Abyssal avian deity seems to pay careful attention to Taiyou with his tongue licking his beak and lip. "My my my, you appear to have had your latest garment damaged there, no worries, Yog Sothoth." He called out to the other room and the two soon saw the Abyssal Scribe gliding into the place with his book tucked in his armpit.

"Ah the sun Prince and my beloved little Leandros. What pleasure do I have here? Oh my, my darling invention damaged!? Scratched?! Oh the perpetrators will rue the day they cross my brilliance with their brute force!" The Scribe hammed up his exclaims as he helped Taiyou up to his feet and stripped his robot armor off slowly. Before long the wolf was once again nude with the Scribe examining the armor.

"The armor, quirks aside, is honestly pretty useful," Taiyou admitted, not too bothered by his state of undress...to be honest he'd lost his clothes so often lately it didn't bother him as much as it used to. "But guess it was too much to hope that it could stop an attack from a deity.

"Oh trust me young prince, putting too much hope in prototypes are always foolish. However, I can work on upgrades to improve on the data recorded from the suits thanks to you." Said the Scribe with a smirk as he then give Taiyou a glance looking up and down to inspect the prince's physique while eyeing his athletic body.

Taiyou noticed, and let out a small sigh. "Try not to take too long okay. I don't think we have the luxury of time."

The Scribe just chuckled and led him to a private room nearby, inside the room, Taiyou saw that the place seems to have a small work place that resembled a shed than anything, there the Scribe removed some wooden planks on the floor, revealing what appeared to be a large water barrel filled with murky dark purple goo and dipped the folded suit into the goo.

"This...is this what the suit is made of?" Taiyou asked curiously.

"Au contraire my Prince, this is merely the portal disguised a thick gooey layer of dark purple liquid." The Scribe snickered and chuckled to Taiyou while standing behind him rubbing his talons together, the Scribe then proceeded to run his talons on Taiyou's firm back inspecting the Sun Prince, he then proceeded to prod and poke into Taiyou's flesh and fur inspecting his firm body build. "Yes yes, I can work with a body like this. Hehehe. The growth and strength here, vitality. Oh yes, how you will produce excellent Nanites for all of us." He chuckled.

"I'm sorry, what?" Taiyou said flatly. This was really making him feel more than a little uncomfortable.

Much to his chagrin and discomfort the Scribe's lack of sense of privacy went further with the Scribe reaching for his genitals and held it in his talons, the synthetic paddings on his palms helped the Scribe sensed the heat and grab hold of Taiyou's genitalia gently as he made his judgement, the wolf starting to blush a bit at the contact.

"Aaaaaah, much better than anticipated, your semen, your seeds and essence being virile and healthy. Powerful and a mixture of two instead of my step son's Anubis pure. Not to say his Nanties weren't powerful mixture, but yours seems to have more avenues than what I've seen so far." Said the Scribe as he then let go of Taiyou's genitals as inspect his body's front side.

"To put matters into perspective, the Nanites that is essential to the development of Anubis's robot army and his technological superiority was created by injecting Nanites into organic semen or better yet a genitalia. The process would see your body turned into a robot anthro and your semen would become virile Nanites that you can use to mate and roboticize others. Kinky." He chuckled cheekily to Taiyou.

"I'll pass thank you very much," Taiyou frowned as he pushed the Scribe to a slight distance. "I may be willing to accept Anubis's decision to become a machine, but I have no intention of having any additions be anything other than a suit," he said firmly. "So please, refrain from talking as if I've agreed to follow in his steps."

"Hmph, suits yourself." The Scribe remarked as he snapped his fingers, the tendrils would then tackle Taiyou, knocking him off his feet with an 'oomph!' and keep him lying down on the ground with his legs parted out. More tentacles rose up from the goo holding the suit for Taiyou in a stripped down form, they began to apply the suit to various positions on Taiyou's body.

First Taiyou saw the crotch plate of the suit being secured on his pelvic region as it began to expand further with the chest panels being strapped on to his pecs with synthetic muscle fibers expanded to cover his entire body with the tendrils skillfully welding armor plates onto the suits muscle systems before finally letting Taiyou walk on his own.

As Taiyou stood up he felt the Scribe spanking his rear and giving him a perverse grin. "But still my little one, I don't need your entire body, I just need a good vial of your semen. Just a pinch." He cheekily chuckle while making a hand gesture with his thumb and index finger to clarify to Taiyou.

"I'll...consider it…" Taiyou sighed. He couldn't exactly say a flat no considering it WAS for Anubis's cause...and it wasn't as if the Scribe wasn't helpful in his own way. "But for now, thanks for fixing the suit, and...I can remove this when I need to, right?"

"Deactivating Abyssal Shell" the automated voice of the suits system stated to Taiyou as the suit retracted its locks and fell off of him like a banana peel leaving Taiyou stark naked standing in the middle of the room for the Scribe to take photos of his body and his genitals. "Thank you for your cooperation. I will conduct research into additional variants, perhaps one for your wife?" The Scribe smirked smugly.

"Kassandra...doesn't actually know I'm here…" Taiyou sighed. "But I think that would be good...if or when she comes. I...really should have told her before I left…" he was somewhat dreading, yet looking forward to that happening. With a sigh, he picked up the suit and soon put it back on.

However they soon heard the sound of crow squawks, it was less than welcoming as Scribe frowned and huffed out frustratingly as he opened the door out to the backroom.

"What's going on?" He asked annoyed. "We're under siege, enemy forces are in the front and they're waiting to storm the building." The Crow replied with a scornful eye as he held up his twisted Eldritch scepter and levitate out to the front of the inn. "Well you kids know what to do, clean this place up." Said the Scribe as he summoned his tendrils to begin the process of clearing the tavern of any and all supplies, weapons and information that might be of use to the enemy.

"Does this place have additional defenses, or do we abandon this place?" Taiyou asked.

"Oh? Defenses? Me." The Crow smugly remarked as he levitated out to the front of the inn where he saw through the windows of the inn the sight of an enemy company size force laying siege to the inn.

The majority of the troops presence there were soldiers heavily armed and armored. Their supports were apparently hulking combat robots with auto cannons and grenade launchers ready to bombard the inn. "Bring it on punks, my pets hunger your blood." The Crow cackled as he snapped his fingers, summoning what could be his variant of Ra's Solar Blessing upon himself before firing a beam of dark purple lighting surging at their direction, setting them on fire.

"Leaving so soon? I don't think so." The Crow cackled as he heard their cries and screams in agony as he then snapped his fingers, summoning multiple tendrils from dimensional tears around them. The troops laying siege were soon falling prey to the various tendrils and monstrous entities of the Void that none of them had expected to run into.

"Looks like you've got this covered…" Taiyou sweat dropped. "Anything you need us to help with?"

"Of course there is, gather the weapons and supplies, there's a jetty under the basement for us." Said the Scribe as he gestured Taiyou and Leandros to gather the few weapons and ammo lying around the inn's back room along with consumable supplies and ran into the basement.

"Come one, come all. Bring yourselves to my pet's maws." The Crow continued to cackle maniacally as he rain chaos, fear and death upon his enemies, however his ballet of chaos and destruction would soon be interrupted when arrows flew through the wall and planted firmly on the walls. One was caught in the Crow's hand and he snapped it nonchalantly with a firm grip.

"Right, we'll get the supplies and alert the two of you when we're ready to go," Taiyou nodded quickly as he and Leandros left the room and did as they were instructed.

"Oh children, you all might want to speed up the process back there. It seems a certain Gorgon has decided to enter the fray." The Crow squawked half jokingly to them as Leandros and the Scribe were seen pouring oil on the floor and supporting I-beams ready to set the place on fire. "Perhaps you would like to give him a hand young prince, we have this covered." Said the Scribe with a mad cackle.

"I can help," Taiyou nodded, his eyes gaining a determined look as he summons his weapons, especially his Reflector. He was well aware about the tales of Medusa.

Out in the front room of the Inn, tables were turned or flipped down on the floor to be barricades and makeshift defenses. The Crow wasted no times at all with the reinforcing of the structure no matter how flimsy. Soon enough, the Crow could see Medusa slithering towards him. The gorgon smashed through the door and hissed out to the Crow to threaten him. He saw the sight of Medusa and grinned at her appearance.

The gorgon, once flesh and blood was now a mechanical monstrosity with her porcelain mask now made of stainless steel to cover the skeletal like metal face, the snakes for hair on her head were now bundles of wires and cables with mechanical snake motifs on them. Her slender serpentine body had its midriff exposed as a skeleton support her torso section. On her waist there was a green rectangular quiver pack for her bow. "Hello gorgeous. Come to donate scraps?" The Crow taunted.

"Is that actually Medusa or a robot made in her likeness?" Taiyou frowned, readying his Reflector like a shield on his left arm, and Sunslayer in his right hand.

"They rebuilt me. They had the technology. They made me better than I was. Better, faster, stronger." The robot Gorgon spoke in a monotonous word by word to speech computer voice, giving them both a frightening chill. "I have been assembled to destroy what you cherish the most." Medusa stated mechanically as she prepared her bow and notched her arrows. She let loose three venomous arrows at the Crow and Taiyou while slither and strafe sideways to keep them off balance with her zig zags.

Both of them evaded, while Taiyou quickly closed the distance. Summoning his Rosary, he fired the beads like bullets which impacted against Medusa, causing her to stumble a little as he came down with his sword, while the Reflector was raised in a way he could immediately block her if she tried anything.

"Think you can outrun me?" Medusa retorted to Taiyou as she then slashed at him using her metallic claws, the Abyssal Shell armor of Taiyou hardened in response. While it did receive slashes across the torso section, Taiyou was able to wear the worst of the strike. "It burns so good." She taunted him as she fired off her Acid from her fangs, spitting the deadly corrosive substance on Taiyou and his surroundings.

Taiyou growled and continued to evade, jumping and swerving out of the way, but the attacks kept coming. Still he managed to counter with some of his own, making for a see saw battle. Medusa was quickly getting annoyed as she continued to attack, but her arrows either missed or were destroyed. Even her acid was more or less unable to hit him save small bits which quickly lost effectiveness.

"Stand and fight!" The Crow squawked out viciously as he summoned a Solar blessing circle to help heal Taiyou's wounds and levitate over with increased speed. He summoned a scorching sun strike at Medusa, blazing her body, forcing the gorgon to slither away from him, repositioning herself across the room and open fired on him, firing her best armor piercing arrows at the Crow. "You will be lifeless soon." The gorgon declared as the arrows struck the Crow's chest piercing through his armor and left him crippled in his healing light. Seeing that, she smirked and move to finish him but…

"Hold it right there!" Taiyou roared as he ran towards her to intercept. However, when he did, the snakes that made up her 'hair' simply turned to face him and spewed a torrent of acidic venom, hitting him mid-movement, covering him in it. He howled in pain as the acid melted through his suit, some bits touching his skin and fur. However, he maintained enough wits to focus on one act for his suit.

Medusa smirked as she focused on the Crow, ready to end the fight...before she felt something, and turned just in time to see a blade coming for her face, and slashing out her optics, while destroying part of her mask as well. It was Taiyou, Sunslayer ready as he was once again naked as the day he was born, having jettisoned his suit to free himself from the acid, while also catching Medusa by surprise. A surprise that he was awarded with a tail strike to the gut, knocking the wind out of his lungs as he was sent flying back into several chairs, groaning as he lay in the broken heap.

"You will regret your actions." Medusa taunted Taiyou while flailing about trying to get a grip of her orientation and vision. She however would soon be made a target for the Crow's own ultimate attack. A dark Eldritch variant of Ra's own Searing Pain. "Rrruagh!" He growled out monstrously firing a beam of crackling thunder and lighting from his chest with dark purple color, blasting through the furniture and knocking Medusa flying out of the inn and crashing into the nearby structures.

"A snake is meal for birds of prey." Said the Eldritch as he yanked the arrows out of his chest and coughed out in pain. "Let's go now young Prince. Best to end my brief venture here." Said the Crow as he levitated with Taiyou into the basement of the inn to see the Scribe and Leandros were waiting for them with Leandros sitting on a tendril the Scribe summoned for him.

Taiyou groaned as he shook the daze off. "Sorry about the suit. It was the only way I could think to get to her before she did any worse damage," he said.

The Scribe crossed his arms seemingly annoyed by the revelation with Taiyou could see the Scribe having a rainy dark cloud over his head. "Oh that's just great. Best you stay naked, spare me of the pain of building another." Said the Scribe as he then led them to a small dingy boat tied to a pier while he tossed down a candle to the trail of oil. The flame would quickly travel up to burn down the inn while they all sail out along the river.

"Believe me, I'm getting a little too used to ending up naked," Taiyou sighed, trying to get comfortable despite the slight chill, curling his tail over his privates to preserve SOME modesty.

"Cheer up, being alive is the most important thing right now, the sooner we crash their archaeological dig the better." The Crow stated as Leandros and Taiyou rested on the seats of the dingy boat while the Crow and Scribe were at the helm riding them down river towards the nearby town.


	4. Chapter 4: Catacombs

Chapter 4: Catacombs

It felt like hours since high noon and now the sun was beginning to set on the west, Taiyou and Leandros were on the wooden boat being ferried into a nearby town down the river. Once a prosperous fishing village of Germanic Goths and Norse people, now a gloomy stone village with the eerie atmosphere. As they passed by a stone bridge, Taiyou noticed how quiet the town was, the place was mostly deserted with some of the remaining population staying tight in their homes, shutting their windows from the outside world.

"Ah yes, fear, paranoia, anxieties. Can you feel it? The mortals here are gripped by it, what's worse is they don't know where it's coming from." The Crow chuckled lightly as he rowed the boat into a dock house and tied up the vessel to the dock. "Now then, we are making this up on the fly, therefore, let's start with where their commander congregate. Loose lips sink ships." Said the Crow as he then morphed into a robot crow with flashy purple eyes and metallic feather.

He then flew off to perch on a nearby rooftop looking down on the streets before chiming in on Taiyou and Leandros radio frequency. "Now you two, keep yourself low and move outside. There's plenty of guards. Preferably stay out of sight. Find your way to the tavern, keep your eyes on the rooftops, where I perch you follow."

"Right, we'll be sure to do that," Taiyou nodded, before his form shifted, becoming quadrupedal as he took on his feral form.

Leandros then started to exit the wharf with Taiyou, keeping himself low as the robot Lucario had no particular polymorph spells to help him shapeshift. He was a sore thumb by all standards. The Scribe followed behind by morphing into a robot ibis, black as night with purple colored metal feather. He flew above Leandros and Taiyou, circling around to give them overwatch and observe their movements.

The two first went out to a nearby square where they found the place be guarded by various COBRA troopers, these didn't seem like normal grunts, rather they have body armor, advanced ballistic helmet, red visor and ballistic mask along with heavy boots and automatic weapons brandished.

"My my, these appear to be fanatical devotees. Let's not bother them too much shall we?" The Crow mused on the radio as he perched on the rooftop of a nearby building as Leandros skillfully traverse the walls and use his roof climbing skill to reach the rooftop. As he traveled, he encountered a marksman who was having a smoke with his head looking at the sky. Taking the advantage, Leandros engaged his laser tonfa blade and stabbed the target through the abdomen region and pounced up. "You neglect to mention enemy snipers." Leandros grumbled.

"My apologies, I should have warned you about that as well. No matter, you have the high ground now. Don't lose it." Said the Crow as he repositioned himself by flying to another rooftop this time on a diner with chimney bellowing kitchen smoke. He tapped his beak on the wall of the diner, signaling to Taiyou and Leandros to head there. "It looks like they're congregating there, possibly to have some dinner and beer breaks." Said Leandros as he leaped from one rooftop to another while Taiyou raced below using his feral form to stay out of sight.

Taiyou surveyed the situation. So far so good, and his feral form was definitely useful for staying out of sight. He still could use any of his brushes if need be, but as it was, he didn't want to do anything that would draw attention. The only problem was he couldn't speak, and if he did shift back, he'd have to deal with the fact he didn't have any armor or clothing while in the middle of hostile territory, so for now he did his best to follow Leandros and their guide.

Leandros then jumped down from a rooftop of a stone house and landed on his feet with a huff. "Come on, let's try the back door." Leandros stated to Taiyou as he then walked to the rear of the building with Taiyou to open the door. "I advise caution, there's a platoon full of enemy troops drinking and partying right now in the front. You may want to think outside the box to get around." Said the Crow as he was standing by the window looking down at the front of the inn. He found that the party goers inside were various COBRA troopers, humanoid but with numerous genetic mutations on their bodies affecting their physical appearances and attributes.

"We'll think of something." Leandros replied as he then perform lock pick on the locked door to the kitchen in the back. Once he opened it and pushed the door inward, he and Taiyou found that the kitchen was manned by a Germanic looking man with blonde hair. He appeared to be a porky person with a blonde mustache wearing a white apron. Taiyou in turn noticed he had a bruised eye possibly being bullied by the COBRA troops.

"Oh Himmel! Are you here to help me? If you are Klaus need you to get zis order of vine und bread und sausage to ze 2nd floor, room 5, ja? You get zat? Gut, now put on ze apron and get zat delivered before Klaus get another sucker to ze other eye!" The cook panically instructed with hysteria to Leandros, seemingly gloss over the fact that he was a blue robot canine standing in his kitchen.

Taiyou cocked his head to the side curiously, wondering how the heck this guy wasn't noticing them.

"Und as for you doggie, vould you like Klaus's sausage und bacon? Zat all Klaus has right now unfortunately." Leandros if he could, he would sweat right now at the bizarre situation he was in. He knew that the moment he stepped out COBRA troops would waste him. But he risked it anyway, he put on the apron and carried the tray of meals and drinks in his hands out of the kitchen. Taiyou himself was offered a sausage by the cook with some spare meal he could out of good will.

As Leandros walked out however, COBRA troops seems to be too busy partying and drinking to care. They simply hiss at one another, punching or brawling around while others munch on their meals with some Germanic beer. He walked upstairs carefully while the Crow groaned and facepalmed seeing this. "How did they not notice you?" He asked rhetorically and cringed at the flimsy paper thin disguise.

Soon enough, he came up the 2nd floor where there were several rooms for rest in old fashioned inn manners. As Leandros went towards Room 5, he stopped and pressed his ears up against the door to listen in. He heard muffled voices on the other side of the door, one was male and the other was female.

"These idiots and I have to babysit them, they can't even be bothered with setting up proper surveillance around town. Let alone patrols." Said the female voice then followed by a male one arguing with her. "That's why the sooner we replace them with your robots the better. Let's be real, we recruit these moronic inbreds from the lowest of the bottom feeders. They would fuck their mothers and suck their sister's tits if given half a chance." Said the male voice.

Leandros then slowly pushed the door open and entered the room, he saw that in what appeared to be a simple bedroom with a queen size bed and wardrobe, there was a robot naga in the room with ample breasts talking to what appear to be a hulking robot bull in dark chrome color and red optics. He knew who these were, Alice and Bulltron, the Baroness and the Brains of COBRA.

"Know Bulltron, that I only crave one thing…" She paused before looking at his face longingly prompting the bull to hold her hand with his larger robot arms. "What is it that you desire?" He asked her tauntingly. "You." She replied before putting both her hands on his cheeks, pulling him in for a deep passionate kiss on his metal lips.

Taiyou had a rather flat look at that, before tugging at Leandros to move along. He didn't think they needed to see this.

Leandros didn't move along, he knew who these two were, but more importantly, he saw a folder on the table of the Baroness, one look and he knew it was an important folder. Possibly the document they were looking for. He then approached them and placed the tray on top of the folder and placed the food out on the table while the two were kissing. He then gently tucked the folder under the tray and lifted it up slowly walking out before suddenly the Baroness called him. "Wait." She said in a toxic snide.

"How's the wine that you're serving? I expect high class wine for me and my love here." She hissed at Leandros as she slithered over to the table and sat down on the wooden chair, wrapping her tail into coils. "It is fermented grape vine, taste and smell suggest it is… freshly imported from Rome." Leandros replied blankly, not quite aware if his analytical observation was up to par.

"Imported? The last thing the Roman would ever do is export anything original. They're importers." the Baroness stated snidely. "You appear brand new here. Civilian model? I doubt anyone in this town is affluent enough to afford anything like you." Bulltron mused rubbing his chin looking at Leandros.

"I am imported model, a Roman Governor has me as his secretary." Leandros blankly replied with a bit of sarcasm. The Baroness huffed out however, "Secretary? This is a pathetic side job for you, little dog. Now, sit down and drink this wine. Test it for me." Said the Baroness.

Taiyou looked at Leandros and was shaking his head, tail twitching. If anything he looked like he was torn between bolting and pulling Leandros with him...or using his brush techniques to dismember these two high ranking members.

"Now then, taste the wine and make sure you are honest about it." The Baroness eyed Leandros seductively as she sat down on the table. Her body language and mannerisms seem to radiate a seductive commanding overtone prompting Leandros to pucker his metal lips and slowly took a step towards her.

Before Leandros could do anything, a white streak ran through, grabbed Leandros, and ran away, the robot finding himself perched awkwardly on the back of a large white wolf. "Get them! I want his head on a platter now!" The Baroness his sinisterly as she and Bulltron broke out of the room running after Leandros, seeing Bulltron rampaging after them, Leandros tossed the tray at his face, slamming him in the eye but did not put a dent on the robot bull. "Wake up you drunken inbreds! They're getting away with the Baroness critical documents!" the robot bovine ordered with a loud huff, causing the partying troops to look over at Taiyou and Leandros.

They all had the astonished and shocked look on their faces, not quite aware of how they let these two into the building in the first place. But they were too embarrassed to think further than saving their own hides. So they grabbed their weapons and trained their sights on Leandros and Taiyou. For Leandros and Taiyou, this was apparently their second time being captured in the same day, however, what ensnared them was not the hands of Bulltron or Baroness.

An earthquake rippled through the town, splitting the place apart and leveling the town's various buildings. The Inn fell down with wooden i-beams collapsing on Taiyou and Leandros causing them to be half buried under the rubble. Bulltron however used his massive metal body to cover for the Baroness, protecting her robot naga chassis from the rubble. "What's going on now?" Bulltron asked seemingly annoyed. "It must have been the demolition at the catacombs, they must have blasted through using demo charges. Quickly we must get to the catacombs!"

As the two robots ran off passing by Leandros and Taiyou, they left the two in a blazing and crumbling inn. The thought of being buried in a blazing wooden structure was more than enough to leave Leandros with fear and apprehension.

Though stiff and robotic at times, he too knew that death was perhaps permanent if somehow the scythe of Thanatos can strike at the right place. That was when the Crow and Scribe entered the inn with the Scribe using his telekinesis power lifting the wooden i-beams aside and tossed them through the wall. The Crow reached out to Taiyou and Leandros with both hands extending their tentacles wrapping around their arms dragging them out of the rubble.

"You think we would just leave you now, wouldn't you?" The Crow asked in a sarcastic tone as he then summoned a circle of dark energy around them, the circle healed Leandros wounds by mending and repairing twisted and bent segments of his armor crushed under the pressure.

"Thank you for the assistance. I never doubted you." Said Leandros as the Crow gave his head a loving pet. "That's a good boy, now then… time is of the essence, follow Bulltron and the Baroness to the Catacombs, North of town. You should find them excavating a Roman necropolis. Be careful there, revenants are everywhere." He warned them carefully.

Taiyou shifted back to his humanoid form. "Thanks for the warning," he sighed, wincing as his own body was covered in wounds, but focusing his energy, he helped the wounds heal faster, the injuries closing. "They REALLY want these relics don't they?" he sighed and asked rhetorically. As he shifted back to his anthro form, he was left naked and needed something to cover him up.

Thankfully for him, the Scribe opened a portal with an octopus tendril emerging with his Abyssal Shell Nanosuit ready for him to wear. "Not that I'm complaining, but do they HAVE to look like that?" Taiyou sighed, as the tendrils snaked over him and attached themselves to him, dressing him. "Though it does beat streaking," he couldn't help but say. Once they were done, Taiyou was suited up and protected inside a roiled up beefy armored suit with metal armor plates designed with overlapping snake scale pattern on its artificial muscles coils.

"They're born with it. Not like they can complain or anything." He casually smirked at Taiyou and left them with a pair of guns on the floor for them to use. "Oh and one more thing, try cutting through the nearby bathhouse, it's a shortcut that will take you to the Necropolis." the Scribe highlighted the path on Leandros HUD with a glowing path of purple light leading them out of the inn.

Leandros took machine pistol up as his preferred weapon, he removed the magazine to check ammo count before slamming it back in and cocked the bolt. He also grabbed a pistol off of a dead enemy fighter and placed it inside his thigh compartment's holster. "Good luck." The Scribe snickered and spanked Leandros's rumps playfully.

"Right, we'll stop them," Taiyou nodded, before shifting to his feral form again as the two of them charged into that direction.

As they exited the inn, the sky was now blood red with the clouds being orange flame, thunder cracking through the clouds striking ominously on the spires and high towers around the town. Leandros was taking point for Taiyou when he saw an enemy fighter standing in the way, the cultist was facing something ahead, seemingly staring into oblivion. When Leandros grabbed the shoulder of the cultist and flipped him around, they saw the face was now pale white, dead skin with foul stench radiating from his body and his eyes were now blazing empty sockets.

The cultist shrieked and tried to rush Leandros, only to have the robot Lucario decapitated him with a well placed shot to the head, dropping the revenant to the ground instantly. More revenants were seen falling from the sky, apparently cultists blown up by the earthquakes now falling down as revenants. "Tonight's forecast, raining revenants." Leandros quipped dryly.

Several more were cut apart by the Power Slash brush, while the ones who remained had their heads ripped off by Taiyou using his powerful fangs, with a few more getting hit with his Reflector, causing them to fall to the ground. The wolf tossed aside the piece of flesh in his jaws in distaste, before motioning for them to keep going.

As the two arrived at the Roman Bathhouse, the mosaic fresco wall seem to give off a higher than usual heat signature on Leandros optical systems, he noticed that the place appeared to have more steam fogging his optical lens and knew that something was off. Leandros then used his laser tonfas and quickly slashed the doors apart and kicked it in, sending flying wood splinters and shrapnels at the cultists within.

"Got steam? Cool down." Said Leandros as he opened fire on the COBRA fanatics inside of the bathhouse, he saw that these fighters apparently were quick to duck behind brick and stone furniture to hide from his bullets. Some even toss grenades at Taiyou systematically to separate the two forcing Leandros to dive into the nearby changing room to duck as the grenades detonated behind him.

"Somebody flank those two! Isolate the wolf from the robot first!" The cultist fighter ordered his underlings. But when Leandros popped out of cover and fired at him, the cultist exploded into a flaming revenant who stood stiffly for a brief second before attacking the still living cultists. "How did that happen? Get away! Get away from me! I barely lived, #YOLO #FOMO #AHHHH!" One of the cultists screamed in a high pitched shriek as he ran away from the bathhouse.

Taiyou glared at the enemies before him, but he had to play along or they'd be in bigger trouble. With that in mind, he circled around, aiming for any cultists that were still nearby, and rammed into one.

With the ram, the cultist was sent flying into the wall, slamming hard against the concrete surface and fell down unconscious, with the fighting inside of the bathhouse chipping away the cinder blocks of the baths, the cultists were soon rushing in reinforcements with a pair of marksman wearing visual enhancement goggles on their eyes and a massive hulking brute. A brute clad in shiny armor pieces and helmet with a gas mask as he wield two massive autocannons in both hands.

"Sledgehammer twelve o'clock, vacate and reposition Taiyou!" Leandros called out with a slight pitch urgency to warn Taiyou as the brute open fire his auto cannons. The Sledgehammers as they were called blew through pillars and statues, sending shrapnels flying as he came up to Taiyou.

The Brute then fired off his rocket packs, thrusting him forward slamming into Taiyou from behind sending him flying into the statue of Aphrodite/Venus, cracking both arms off of the statue. "You're a poor excuse for a god, puppy boy. Surrender now and I'll make you a trophy on my wall." The brute taunted Taiyou as he pressed his leg on Taiyou's body.

Taiyou glared, and using a Power Slash, sent the brute reeling back, before shifting into his humanoid form, springing off the ground, and landing a kick followed by a slash. Several other cultists tried to help, but Taiyou pulled out Solar Sentinel and cut them apart in a single slash, before narrowly avoiding a strike from the brute. Growling, he continued his assault, but the brute seemed to be able to mostly weather through the barrage of attacks.

Despite that Taiyou kept it up, but during one of his leaps, the brute swung his sledgehammer, the strike grazing him, but was enough to make him lose control of his momentum, leaving him open to another strike, causing him to tumble to the ground, quickly getting up but still slightly dazed, giving the brute time to get behind him, and using his sledgehammer, caught him by the neck and pulled him against him, Taiyou struggling to get free and pull the handle that was trying to choke him.

Leandros seeing this knew that a direct strike won't kill his enemy, so he prowled around the brute, taking advantage of the hulking enemy being busied with Taiyou. As he was getting behind the Brute, he pounced on his back and used his laser tonfa blades slashing at the joints and weak points on his armor.

This caused the brute to react violently by grabbing Leandros and tossed him off his back. The hulking behemoth then turned his attention to Leandros with his Sledgehammer autocannons and open fired on the robot Lucario as he was sprinting and sliding into cover. The opening provided by Leandros prompted Taiyou to get back up on his feet and used his Solar Sentinel to perform Power Slash on the Brute's back.

Feeling himself annoyed and irritated by the two, the Brute then used his jetpack to fly up to the second floor and assume firing position on the ledges looking down at them. "The two of you against me? A cute dog and his toy of a robot? If you wish to fight me, then let's take this outside!" He then blasted out of the bathhouse, taunting them to chase him down leaving Leandros to pick Taiyou up and check his body for wounds.

"Let me run diagnostic on your medical condition." Said Leandros as his eyes beamed out two red laser beams running up and down Taiyou's body to find any signs of bruises, wounds or others. "You appear to be in good condition, physical injuries are negligible." Said Leandros.

"Yeah, I've been through worse," Taiyou sighed, rubbing his throat. "Fighting these things without any protection is both easier and harder. I'm much faster now, but a good hit is going to be a problem."

"Agreed, my chassis is designed for agility and speed. I cannot stand straight up fights like you." Said Leandros as he inspected his machine pistol. The robot found that the weapon was no longer adequate with the enemies they've been facing so far. He tossed it aside and picked up an assault rifle with better ammo caliber, he then collected some armor piercing magazines marked with a red color strip on the bottom of the magazine. He also apparently picked up a battle axe and grind it against the rock and debris to sharpen it. "An axe a day keeps the snake away." said Leandros as he then tied the axe around his waist for easy access.

"I think an axe would keep just about anything away," Taiyou said dryly.

"Let's go but stay cautious." Leandros then resumed taking point and kicked down the door to the back, leading Taiyou with him towards a Roman Necropolis where the entrance was filled with hungry revenants wandering looking for their next meal.

The ground around the Necropolis was cratered with potholes littered all over the place from fault lines rippling out from the epicenter. What they saw radiating out of the craters were sickly green miasma, noxious fumes and possibly mist with unknown properties to them.

Leandros went into the mist first, carefully making his way through and blasted off some revenants that strayed too close to comfort for either of them. However, as he was approaching the gates of the Necropolis, his HUD began to experience malfunctions.

His vision grew grainy and static like an old VHS tape, his HUD flickered with error reports popping up taking over his vision. He then heard the demonic growling echoing from somewhere penetrating his audio sensors and tormented his head. He collapsed to his knees with his eyes staring up to the dark sky and held his head with both hands agonizingly. "Aaaagh! Get out of my head!" He howled in pain before falling to the ground writhing in pain, curling up into a fetal position.

"Leandros!" Taiyou said in alarm, coming closer to him in worry...and walked right into the mist too, and immediately feeling something was...off…

Even to a God like Taiyou, he could not resist the toxic effects the miasma had in store. He felt weak, his head started to spin and he too heard the voice of a demonic entity calling to him. "To the cataclysm, I am its embodiment. To your feeble mind, I am the oblivion incarnate." Taiyou saw before him the world reduced to nothing but ashes and fire, the trees were twisted and burned with branches hanging corpses of innocent victims like the gallows. The ground he walked on charred and left shaky.

The sight of Leandros reaching out for him only to dissipate into dust and blown away by the cold wind made Taiyou felt even worse. And soon, the necropolis in front of him caved in, revealing the entrance to a demonic being, with glowing green eyes and patches of leather and metal stitches or forged into its skin and bandages on its arms. Its mouth breath green sickly mists of skulls. That was when the vision came to a halt as he felt a powerful grasp on his shoulder holding him up.

He looked to his side and found the Abyssal Crow standing next to him with his equivalent of Ra's Solar Blessing casted on the ground to help him and Leandros get back on their feet. The Crow held him by his waist and lifted him up to his feet. The Scribe however was crouching next to Leandros helping the robot Lucario up to his feet and administered him with a diagnostic scan.

"Hmmm there seems to be nothing wrong with your system per se. But obviously not even robots are spared of the Abyssal Void's Mist of Dread." The Scribe mused nonchalantly as he tapped his index finger on Leandros forehead, causing him to flick his eyes for a moment before shaking his head. "Thank you, I didn't know what to think for a moment." Leandros shook the Scribe's hand as he stood up.

"The Monstrosity is here. He was so unstable, Mother has to cast him out of the Void. It seems his catacombs just so happen to lie underneath this town's Necropolis. Before you two go I must bless you with some protections." Said the Scribe as he summoned a holographic hieroglyph wall in front of him as he began to target Leandros and Taiyou.

His talons light up, glowing and radiating purple crackling thunder as he charged and fired it through the wall, striking the two with a painful sting. It felt like the cold grip of the Abyssal Void surging through their bodies and holding their spines before crawling up to their heads. With that he finished his work letting the two stand up again now feeling oddly normal despite standing in the thick of the deadly Mist. "I've immunized you both to the threat of the Abyssal Void's mental properties, which took away the fun of madness and fear." He sarcastically grumbled.

"Thanks…" Taiyou groaned. "I don't think either of us would be able to get to the end if we can't even think straight," he sighed.

"Well then, make sure you two don't get bogged down in the middle of the road. If you want to see my sweet abs again." The Crow snickered and teased to Taiyou, before melting into the shadow and move silently in the night as the Crow set up his holographic hieroglyph wall again. He opened his book and powered up his magical attacks then blast three shots through the gates, blowing down the gate and wall leaving them with a wide open entrance.

"Good luck Little One." He looked to Leandros concernedly as he patted the robot Lucario's shoulder. "I will not fail my mission." Leandros assured the Scribe before leading the way for Taiyou into the Necropolis finding their ways around.

The area within the Necropolis were a collection of densely packed and tightly constructed crypts with some tombstones and in the place. The cemetery had the Mist of Dread in every corner of the place with the surviving patrols of Eclipse's forces trying to keep up security around their camp.

"Sharpen up you morons! We have hostiles in the area and they're coming for this excavation site specifically! Unless you want that job benefit, go ahead and run to the ends of the planet!" The Brute commander shouted out over the P.A system as he circled around the mineshaft at the center of the Necropolis guarding the entrance with whatever that's left of his troops.

As Leandros and Taiyou approached the center of the Necropolis, they saw that the place had been ripped apart for a massive mining and archaeological expedition drilling deep into the underground. What they saw were watchtowers, scaffolding connecting causeways and and fighting positions with one another.

The place had spotlights all around to keep the shaft well lit with staircases made from scaffolding leading downward. And in front of the place was the Brute in his power armor and dual autocannons surveying the area.

There were also tents around the place with one of them Leandros sneak into, as he did, he came across an enemy officer dressed in red uniform and peak cap along with a headset on his head. The robot Lucario wasted no time at all with stabbing and killing him instantly.

Once the target was down, he checked on the table to see if there was anything useful. There he found on the table a medallion, one of fine smithing and artistic crafting. It was the size of an old pocket watch with various hieroglyphic pictograms that he could not read imprinted on the surface.

There were four arrows stretching out to the North, East, South and West directions with four slots for what appeared to be gems, if only he knew what those were. The Medallion's center had a purple gemstone glowing at his very touch as he lifted it up in his hands. He then saw that when the Medallion glow brighter, there were various pictograms of the Abyssal Void glowing on his robot chassis like tattoos.

The world in his robot HUD and vision was now rendered a deep dark navy blue with various footprints highlighted on the ground and his enemies were highlighted in red. As he exited the tent, he appeared to be phasing through the very fabric and was able to move at a faster speed than normal.

"Something wrong?" Taiyou asked, noticing Leandros's odd behavior.

As Taiyou's voice reached Leandros ears, he heard it as echo and distorted sounds but enough to cause him to look back at Taiyou and lowered the Medallion, in the process his vision returns to normal and he saw Taiyou giving off his radiant solar glow. "I don't know. I believe it may have something to do with this." Said Leandros as he held up the Medallion to Taiyou.

Taiyou looked at it rather hard. "Is that thing doing anything strange?" he asked cautiously. The last friend who'd had a medallion that did strange things...well...he didn't like to think about it.

"It seems to have affected my system and performances. I felt as if I was phasing through the world at greater speed than I would normally do." Said Leandros as he kept the Medallion in his hand. That was when the Brute began to rotate his view over to the tent areas where he noticed a strange radiant glow. He knew that this was Taiyou so he let loose a hail of autocannon blast at them.

The shots blew the tents flying but Leandros in almost lighting fast reaction suddenly dodged the incoming shots by dashing and sliding towards nearby tombstones. With the Medallion in hand, Taiyou noticed how he could barely see the shadows or silhouettes of Leandros as he moved about with lighting speed. "Come on and finish this mutt! If you have balls, come and show it!" The Brute shouted out loud to Taiyou.

"Looks like we have no choice then," Taiyou frowned. "This time I won't hold back," he said, his aura starting to glow, before he used Vale of Mist, slowing time down, and darted out, seemingly in a flash to the Brute, but when he passed, he left 5 Cherry Bombs, which exploded, throwing the Brute back. He wasn't done though as he used Power Slash, setting it to level 3, leaving a deep gash on the back of the Brute.

The Brute growled and readied his sledgehammer, but this time Taiyou was ready, and used Magnetism to cause the swing to miss...and slam the Brute in the face.

"Fight me like a man without your gimmicks!" The Brute roared out in rage as he let loose another hail of autocannon shots.

"I don't have time to humor someone like you," Taiyou said, using Veil of Mist to easily evade the shots, followed by Icestorm to cover him in a blizzard, dropping the temperature on the metal components on him. When the brush was over, he followed up with a Fireburst, suddenly heating things up, then once again an Icestorm, rapidly changing temperatures, followed by a Galestorm to blow off any remaining moisture from the rapid shifts in temperature.

The sudden shifts in metal caused the metal on his power armor to shatter and fall apart. Plates popped off and flew aside while others bent and twisted by the changes, causing him to scream and hastily crawl out of his armor. He revealed himself to Leandros and Taiyou to be a heavily mutated man now having thick hides of a python or boa with serpent scale on his body. He may still have limbs but they now have more scales flaking here and there. He still had his autocannons and fired back at Taiyou.

While he was distracted by Taiyou who now put on his Maximum Armor mode to tank the incoming bullets, Leandros unsheathed his laser tonfas and used the Medallion to zigzag behind the reptile and pounced up on his back. He stabbed the Brute with both blades driven through his back and their tips emerging out on his front. He then slashed the blades aside, tearing him to pieces with the corpse fall down spilling blood all over. And for good measure, Taiyou used the Fireburst brush again, completely incinerating the body.

"What in the world was that thing?" Taiyou asked in disgust. Even the average Demon was more appealing on the eyes than that thing.

"That was Apep's works. Product of genetic experimentation on his followers, turning them into serpent like beings to fit his image." Said Leandros in a casual matter of fact tone as he dusted his shoulder, throwing off the blood and remains off of his robot chassis.

With that, Leandros searched through the pouches and pockets of the Brute, finding inside a blue gemstone. The gem levitated along with the Medallion as the blue stone merged into the Medallion into the Eastern slot. With that the Medallion shot out an electrical surge at Leandros gripping him before landing firmly back into his palm.

"I feel strange, an anomaly that my system can't seem to document." Said Leandros as he held the Medallion up and suddenly, it emitted a blue wave energy that seem to have caught a fly in mid flight. It didn't seem like time manipulation, rather it was like a magnetic or force field that catches anything coming into range.

"Are you sure you should be holding that then?" Taiyou frowned. "Here, how about I hold it instead?" he offered.

Leandros however seem to have a rather negative reaction to this, he held tighter to the Medallion, shying it away from Taiyou and took a step back. "No, let me. It is my burden to bear." Said Leandros as he shielded it away from Taiyou. He grabbed some ropes and strings nearby and fashioned a necklace out of them, the Medallion was seen hanging on his neck where its glow remained dormant but still noticeable.

"Anyone else holds it might be killed, or driven insane. I don't know why I feel none of those now, but I'll turn it in after the mission is done." Said Leandros as he looked away from Taiyou's face, even the robot seem to have difficulties thinking straight, let alone be certain with his own rationale.

"...alright," Taiyou said. Leandros could tell he wasn't fully sincere, but was probably putting the mission ahead of them.

Leandros and Taiyou would then look down to the mine shaft seeing the nearly bottomless pit going for miles and miles underground. Thankfully they had an elevator to take themselves down, which they gladly took to save time.

On their ways down, Leandros seem to have emoted more often than he did when they first met, with concerned sigh, head facing downward, fear and anxieties plaguing his synthetic voice with inaudible mumbling. Taiyou may have never seen a robot with emotions beside Charlie so far, but Leandros seem to have elicited more concerns from Taiyou than before.

Once they have arrived at the bottom of the mineshaft, the two began their trek through the labyrinth like catacombs with tombs and skeletal remains of ancient warriors and deceased people tucked into crypts carved into the wall. Leandros led the way with his Medallion in hand, he was able to see a path of purple flame leading them closer and closer to the heart of the Catacombs.

Passing by various gothic architects such as gargoyle statues, wall painting of monstrous being held within the catacombs with its breath coming out infecting the town. They even came across what appeared to be massive stone statue of a Viking warrior holding an axe to chop down on the monster of gargantuan size.

The strangest thing Taiyou noticed was that when they were in the room with the statue, it was a dead end, no way through. And yet Leandros was pushing forward into a solid wall, he would have stopped Leandros and snapped him out of his trance, but noticed something odd, on the wall was a strange sun symbol, once Leandros walked up to it, he disappeared through the wall.

"...I'm gonna need to talk to Anubis and the Abyssals after this," Taiyou sighed, before following after Leandros. The medallion, if it was the cause, was useful...but he worried for what it was doing to Leandros.

After crossing through the wall, they found what appeared to be a corridor made of stone with rectangular stone pillars decorated with stone carvings and sculps of the Monstrosity and the artist impression of the Abyssal Void it came from. Following the corridor and its various ominous depictions, the two arrived at what appeared to be the Heart of the Catacombs, a chasm like area with sickly green Mist of Dread radiating from within.

They however failed to notice a snare trap laid for them. When they stepped on the floor of the chasm arena, a rope suddenly tighten around their legs pulling them upside down and hanging them in place. Taiyou and Leandros heard the sinister hissing of the Baroness coming from behind as she slithered towards them with Bulltron holding the rope. "Well well well, look what we have here, two curious doggies and one of them is a cute robot." She teasingly pinched Leandros metal cheeks as she shoved her breasts into his face, burying his snout between her melons. "Ugh the other one is so not handsome at all for my taste, too much of the god perfection makes imperfection." She disparaged Taiyou sarcastically.

"Glad to hear I'm unpleasing," Taiyou glared, going into a ready stance. There was no doubt she was an enemy, so he'd be ready to fight. The Baroness however slithered over to Taiyou and began to lick his body with her synthetic fork tongue, with her cobra face pressed so close to his visor, the Baroness teased him with a play kiss and some foreplay of her breasts being shoved into his face.

"I prefer the mortal males, they are imperfect but the effort to sculpt them into the ideal image is the fun." The Baroness hissed at Taiyou as she then slowly reached for the Medallion on Leandros neck and examined it. Smiling sinisterly the robot naga lowered herself down and planted a softer more passionate kiss on Leandros metal lips, prying his mouth out and violating his senses as his own synthetic tongue was forced to taste hers and he whimpered at the thought of being sexually violated.

"Thank you Little One, you brought us exactly what we need." She quipped with a bit of snarks as she yanked the Medallion from Leandros neck and slither over to the nearby pedestal where she found that the mold had similar design and artistic sculpting of the Medallion.

"No you won't!" Leandros struggled against the rope and his fury led him to activate his laser wrist blades slashing the ropes and releasing them. This forced Bulltron to tackle the two with his powerful hydraulic fists holding them by their faces. "Perhaps the lady will enjoy having the blue one as her pet?" Bulltron taunted the two prompting Leandros to use his palm mounted cannons to shoot at the robot bovine's face.

This stunted the bovine causing him to stumble back and dropped the two. "Well then, I enjoy a few shattered bones and a temporarily deactivated robot for a snack. Once I'm done you'll both will have a fate worse than death." Bulltron cracked his knuckles and activated his shoulder mounted minigun and fired at Leandros and Taiyou, forcing them to dash around and dodge the incoming bullets.

"Talk is cheap. You're not the first who's gone through THAT routine!" Taiyou glared, before Bulltron found several Cherry Bombs around him, causing them to explode, followed by several lightning strikes hitting him as Taiyou used Thunderbolt several times.

As they were fighting, the Baroness then pressed the Medallion into place and found that this activated a mechanism within the cavern, cisterns pouring sickly green liquid of Necromancy substance into a massive bottomless pool below, rows of oil were set a light in their canals, giving them all a view of the prison being a massive cylindrical design with the Monstrosity being showered with the Necromantic substance.

"Now then…" She glared at Taiyou and Leandros, "How about you two help this poor woman with something? Like your power perhaps!" She then slithered over towards them and coiled around Taiyou first, trying to use her coils pressure to snap Taiyou's armor apart while Leandros struggled to break free.

"No chance!" Taiyou growled, using Veil of Mist, followed by Power Slash to loosen her grip on them, forcing her back in pain.

"I enjoy the challenge and thrill darling." She hissed out to Taiyou as her cobra fangs began to build up electricity, then she lunged at Taiyou snapping and biting him on his neck, sending electric currents into his Nanosuits and body, electrocuting him in the process.

While then Leandros was busy fighting Bulltron with him running around and gunning Bulltron with his assault rifle, but armor piercing bullets didn't even make a dent on Bulltron metal hides. Instead the robot bovine activated his shoulder rocket pods, these slide up as missile racks that fired off barrages of mini missiles flying at Leandros.

The robot Lucario seeing this knew that he won't be able to dodge let alone outrun the missiles, instead he stood his ground, charged up his palm cannons to maximum power and fired off a powerful ray wide enough to slash off the missiles coming at him.

But this gave Bulltron time to build up his momentum, he kicked up dirt and dust on the ground with his hooves as he charged at Leandros. Seeing this the robot Lucario dashed at him as well, confusing Bulltron as to why he would take a suicidal action only to see Leandros slide on the floor just passing by underneath him.

He couldn't stop himself now, Bulltron realized that he was running towards the wall and slammed through the ancient stone wall leaving behind a large gaping hole on the wall. As Leandros stood up ready to spring in and assist Taiyou he was struck by an arrow to his thigh, He found that the Baroness still had her own high tech bow with her and the arrows were armor piercing tungsten arrows, he grunted and fell to the floor only to be struck by yet another arrow to his shoulder, pinning him on the ground.

The robot naga then looked back at Taiyou, now having her coil to tie up his tail and leg with her own hands pinning his arms to the sides and her fangs electrocuting his body and Nanosuits. "Ah, here it is, the little Reflector I need to wake this monster up." Said the Baroness as she hissed seductively to Taiyou's ears as she grabbed the Reflector off of his back and held it up over the Medallion's pedestal. It was then that they saw the Medallion apparently levitated in midair with the Reflector, it drew energy from the Reflector, which in turn drew from Taiyou, the wolf shouting in pain as he felt his energy being drained out, but unable to move to fight back.

The energy and power of a deity was converted by the Medallion into sparks of life, like a transformer, then shot into the Monstrosity bringing it to life. The monster would open its pale green eyes with its mouth hung open as it slowly stood up from the base of the prison.

The Baroness looked on at the monster with glee, a childlike glee with morbid curiosity showing on her more emotive robot naga face. She slithered over to the edge of the balcony seeing the Monstrosity coming over towards her as it began to lower its head looking at her. She pet it on the forehead, stroking and petting it.

"Come, come to me you beautiful creature, why would anyone hide such a beautiful monster away?" It snorted out, with every breath, it let out a ghastly green sickly mist. "You owe me your loyalty and gratitude. I gave you life, I brought you back to life. Therefore, finish them for me." She slithered aside showing the monstrosity the sight of Taiyou and Leandros. Implying that she wanted it to eat them or worse, but instead it roared at her and grabbed her in its hand tossing her violently against the wall.

"No… no… I…*zzzzt* gave you life. You must obey me!" She hissed out at the monster, Bulltron instead picked her up with both hands, seeing how her body had been badly damaged by the monster. "My lady, I believe it is time to leave for the one place it can't find us. STAAAAAG LAND!" Bulltron then ran out carrying her bridal style leaving Taiyou and Leandros to deal with the monstrosity themselves.

Taiyou groaned as he painfully got up. Having his energy forcefully taken...not to mention the air around here...it wasn't a pleasant experience. Whatever the case, he couldn't stay down, and quickly crunched down on a Holy Bone, restoring some of his strength, before seeing the state Leandros was in and quickly used Rejuvenation to fix as much damage as he could. "No time to rest Leandros, we've got a big problem."

The Rejuvenation Celestial Ink thankfully brought Leandros back on his feet with the ink seemingly mend and repair the damaged portions of Leandros armor plates and hydraulics. He stood up and grabbed his weapon checking its ammo supply and found that not much was left. "Recommended course of action: Terminate hostile entity." He stated robotically before trained his weapon on the monstrosity.

The beast roared out at Taiyou and Leandros, its breath and wind force blew rocks and bricks flying around the black as it slammed its hand on the platform they were on, sending shockwaves to make them lose balance of their feet before sliding the hand in a sweeping motion. Leandros quickly acrobatically backflip to the higher floor to dodge the hand and once he landed on his feet, he began to open fire on the monstrosity's face, blasting off portions of its twisted and deformed flesh.

"That goes without saying," Taiyou said, recalling his Reflector, and sent a Fireburst at the monster.

The monster feeling the Fireburst roasting its torn flesh, causing it to react in an aghast manner, it shielded its face with both hands trying to shield itself from the bullets of Leandros and the flame of Taiyou.

Taiyou tried to keep up the pressure, but he suddenly cut it off, feeling tiredness creep up his limbs. Ever since he'd entered this fog, he hadn't felt right, and now the effects were starting to show as he felt his body start to feel like lead and his energy seemingly not replenishing.

Leandros too began to feel as if his legs were growing heavy, as his movement began to grow sluggish and slow. He looked against the pedestal seeing the Medallion was still locked in place. His HUD began to glow glitchy and static filled, he knew that the protection can't keep up with all of the worst effects of the mist.

Even Taiyou began to feel his head spinning with the worst of the mist's effects began to creep into his head. "Must… remove… the Medallion." Leandros muttered over the radio as he fell down from the second floor platform, he then crawled towards the pedestal while the Monstrosity reoriented its focus on him.

Before it could aim for him though, a Power Slash hit it, Taiyou panting a bit after using the brush technique. "Over here ugly!" he shouted, aiming to keep its attention as he hit it in the eye with an ink bullet.

The monstrosity felt it was stung by a ferocious barrage of ink bullets and power slash causing it to spin around slamming its head into the wall violently. It then roared out at Taiyou with its ghastly breath bringing to life the hordes of the Undead. Skeletal remains of Viking warriors and Roman Legionaires rose from their resting place, swords and shields brandished in hands. Their eye sockets glew a sickly green tint as they began to wade their way towards Taiyou, the wolf steeling himself and soon met them head on, cutting them down as they came near.

The skeletons would then pounce on him or rush at him, making rickety sounds as they ran towards him swinging their swords or axes at him. Only to be beaten back by Taiyou's Power Slash leaving them scrambling to recover their bones. Some other pounced on Taiyou barehanded trying to grip him from behind and tackle him down. Only to be blown away by his Galestorm Brush technique.

Leandros in turn crawled his way towards the pedestal and with all the powers he can muster began to yank and pull the Medallion. His prying was met with resistance from the Medallion as it zapped him with crackling black thunder of the Abyssal Void. He growled and grunted as he willed himself trying to pull the the Medallion off of the Pedestal, his eyes flashed for a moment, changing from red to dark purple in a blink of an eye before he violently yanked it off, falling to the floor with his body numbed by the crackling thunder.

Taiyou saw that with the removal of the Medallion, the Monstrosity roared and writhe in pain, it clawed against the stone wall and slammed its fists against the wall, bringing down more of the dungeon. "Stand and fight!" He heard a suave voice of the Abyssal Crow coming from behind as the Crow and Scribe arrived at the dungeon.

The Crow summoned a healing light on Leandros with the Scribe setting up a holographic hieroglyph wall to fire his Glyphs of Pain at the Monstrosity. These moves further weaken the beast while Leandros was still on the ground with the Crow coming over to pick Leandros up to his feet. "I've yet to discharge you from service, Little One." Said the Crow with a grim tone as he held Leandros by his waist. "What took you so long?" Leandros asked making mechanical coughing sound, rather more like buzzing and wheezing of his voice chip.

"Took the stairs instead of the elevator." Said the Scribe in a sarcastic tone as he fired off his glyphs at the Monstrosity, prompting it to sweep the ground with its hand, the Scribe dodged the sweeping hand and struck the Monstrosity with his Damnation stun attack, causing the monster to freeze in the midst of its own action, "Now then Taiyou, attack its mouth, that's the weakness of the Monstrosity." Said the Scribe in a polite almost casual manner.

"Got it!" Taiyou nodded, before pulling out Solar Sentinel, and charging up a Power Slash, while at the same time firing Ink Bullets, making the Monstrosity angry. He poured everything he had to make this one count, so much so his markings were starting to fade, and when it roared in anger, he slashed forward, cutting right through everything in its mouth, and with the last of his ink, conjured a Cherry Bomb inside of the mouth.

The Monstrosity swallowed the Cherry Bomb whole, not even sure what it was but it didn't care. The Cherry Bomb exploded and caused the Monstrosity to erupt into a fiery ball of green flame. The mist it emanated began to dissipate and clear up but Taiyou saw that the green mist seem to form a green human skull before disappeared from sight once and for all. "Well that was entertaining. You two however could use some R&R. May this Crow provide an easy passage home to Alexandria?" The Crow asked Taiyou politely.

"Yes please," Taiyou sighed, falling to the ground, his markings gone. With the that Scribe looked down at Taiyou noticing that the damages sustained by the suit were rather noticeable. The suit's overall armor plates, curves and angular robot armor plates seem to have survived with scratches and scrapes on its surface.

The artificial muscle systems seems to have withstand the combat stress with some ripped bundles and cords. "Well back to the workshop you go. But really, the suit is just a prototype. It wasn't ready for field deployment yet." The Scribe commented nonchalantly as he helped Taiyou to his feet with his arms wrapped around the Scribe's shoulder.

"Well, at least it works," Taiyou sighed in relief...before something went wrong, he gasped when he suddenly felt what looked like black lightning crawl over his body, causing him to push away from the Scribe in pain, before it got worse, the energy dancing through him, his fur shifting between white and black, the wolf howling in pain, before in a panicked and pained frenzy, he grabbed at the armor, and began tearing it off of him, separating it from its body as the tentacles tried to remain latched on, but his own strength won out, and before long he was panting heavily on the ground in pain, naked as the armor lay in pieces. "Wh-what...was that?" he gasped.

"Ugh, such a wasteful and destructive manner you have. My hardwork, my work of cybernetic art, besmirched!" He eeped out in a high pitched voice before he then picked up the suits on the ground. The tentacles from the suit extended outwards, wrapping around his arm as the suit reduced to its most primitive form, a piece of large bundle of cord that was meant to run parallel to the spine.

"That was the Abyssal Void infection. Either it is a symbiotic relationship with you, or a parasitic one. There is no universal answer to which path it chooses. Only that it seeks to plant its seed in you." The Scribe explained with a stern voice, he appeared to be without his usual flare of charisma or perverse mannerism. "The suit wasn't ready for you and you weren't ready for the Abyssal Void's symbiotic relationship. I will need to perform extensive modifications and testing for your sake." Said the Scribe as he turned around and opened a portal home for Taiyou and Leandros, he then gestured for the two to enter it first.

Leandros walked over to Taiyou and helped him up, letting the wolf lean on his shoulder, while Taiyou nodded in thanks, panting and weakened, before they both walked through the portal.


	5. Chapter 5: Enter Kassandra

Chapter 5: Enter Kassandra

Stepping out of the portal back to Egypt, Taiyou found that it was still late night, some hours away from dawn with him and Leandros exhausted and tired. The Crow and Scribe followed behind them closing the portal behind them before making their way towards the Jackal Guards Camp not far from where they were in Lake Mareotis of Alexandria's southern area.

As they were making their ways back to base, Taiyou's walking clearly demonstrated that he was not in his best shape. He fell to his knees, nearly collapsing on his face to the ground. Leandros quickly caught Taiyou by his shoulders and propped him up. "Are you functional? Your vital signs appear to be below nominal parameters." Said Leandros in his usual robotic tone.

"I...I don't think so…" Taiyou said tiredly. "I haven't been feeling too great since the armor…" he said, losing his footing again and nearly falling over.

The Crow then gave Taiyou a firm grip by his right arm, lifting him up to his feet before wrapping his arm around the Crow's shoulder while Leandros did the same to his left side. "Close your eyes and take a deep breath. No need to get dramatic now." Said the Crow in his cold stern tone as he began to glide Taiyou back to base with Leandros. The Scribe followed them closely as they approached the main entrance.

Their return was greeted by squads of robot wolves saluting their returns with the Crow gave them a salute in return, "It's always nice to have a warm welcome. The reception of being mutually respected is most welcomed." The Crow remarked with a satisfying sigh while the Scribe patted the robots shoulders before moving on.

They would see Anubis running towards them with Charlie accompanying him. Flanking him were Arminius and Belisarius, the two elite robot wolves who had saved Taiyou's life. "How did it go?" Anubis asked Taiyou directly, looking at him with a bit of perplexion in his eyes. Charlie and the two Roman robot wolves quickly got to Taiyou and gently put him down on a wheelchair with oxygen tanks handed to him to help his breathing.

Taiyou took a deep breath from the oxygen tank before speaking. "Mixed," Taiyou sighed. "Bad news or good news first?"

"Bad news first. So the good news make the report better in the long run." Said Anubis sternly, he seems to expect the worst and crossed his arms.

"Well first of all as you can see, I lost two suits to the enemy, both the Nanosuit prototype and the Abyssal Armor suit provided by the Abyssal Scribe. Both were destroyed, which brings me to the next bit of bad news. Eclipse is back. I don't know how, but they've revived him as a machine, and one with quite a few...functions which he used to destroy the Nanosuit, and reveal an iron maiden-like ability that works akin to his old Nosophoros abilities," Taiyou sighed.

"On top of that we encountered a roboticized Thanatos AND Medusa, who respectively damaged and destroyed the Abyssal Armor I was given. Also, we found out that Eclipse has been looking into a catacombs with ties to the Abyssal Void. We barely fought off a monster trapped in that catacombs."

Anubis widened his eyes in response, finding the revelation rather disturbing, if not outright troubling on a mass panic scale. He jerked his head back upon hearing that Eclipse was back, at this point he realized the true extent of the threat, his mind remembering seeing Taiyou drained and lifeless in the monster's grasp so many centuries ago.

The frozen and petrified status of Anubis who was left dangling in fear did not escape the attention of his bodyguards, Belisarius was the first to grab hold of his general's shoulder to shake him off of his trance and traumatic mental images.

"Sir, please you're in the presence of your troops." Said Belisarius as Anubis shook his head, "Ugh, yes thank you Belisarius… Taiyou, losing Nanosuit prototypes is the least of our concern, Eclipse is the biggest at this point. Let's get you inside first." Said Anubis as he patted Taiyou's shoulder and began to push the wheelchair towards the medical bay of the base for treatment.

"And the good news?" He asked again as they walked, looking at Taiyou and Leandros. The robot Lucario then reported for Taiyou instead. "All hostiles eliminated, entrance to Abyssal Catacombs has been sealed off. Confirmed termination of unknown monstrosity sealed within." Leandros stated to Anubis.

Hearing this Anubis nodded with a sigh of relief hearing that indeed the threat may have been contained for now. "Acceptable. Some of the doctors might be able to help." Anubis stated.

As he was walking, the Scribe was seen whispering into his ears, to which Anubis nodded repeatedly but his scowl and scornful expression seems to suggest some apprehension he had with what the Scribe had in mind. As they were entering the medical bay, Belisarius was seen having his index finger tapping his right ear apparently receiving an important call.

He was very surprised with his head perked up slightly before looking over to Anubis. "Sir, the guards at the gates reported a visitor looking for Taiyou. They said she's a lycan with grey fur." Hearing this Anubis perked his ears and eyes up. "That's his wife, Kassandra, let her through. I'll be with her shortly." Anubis ordered his robot who nodded obediently to his leader.

"I'm both looking forward to and dreading seeing her…" Taiyou sighed as he was pushed inside and helped to a bed where the doctor inspected his body for signs of anomalies.

"Failing to inform your Spartan wife? Hera is most displeased." Said Anubis with a stern and stoic tone, showing his signature wisecrack nature and the Laconic sense of humor he learned as a teenager.

"Yeah...I'm probably going to pay for that for a bit…" Taiyou admitted...before blushing a little. "The question is HOW she'll have me pay."

"She's your wife, a bitter knife is out of the question." Anubis remarked sternly as they saw Kassandra being escorted into the base interior with a pair of robot wolves, the she-wolf had changed quite a bit since the first time he'd seen her as a mortal. Her basic appearance was the same with her gray coat of fur and a tan underbelly, a slim but firm form present to show she wasn't the type of woman to sit on her laurels.

Though he also noticed she'd become more...endowed now, going to a sizeable D cup, and most notable of all were the emerald green Divine Markings that were present and glowing on her fur, with a leafy design, reminding him of wreaths of olive leaves, visible through the openings in the dress she was wearing which brought to mind a woman of Sparta, revealing a few wing-like designs on her back, and on her forehead was an omega symbol made from the green Divine Marks.

"Kassandra, it's been a while since we last met." Said Anubis as Kassandra crossed her arms looking up at Anubis and sighed out to him. "Long time indeed, couldn't buy it back from Chronos?" She remarked snarkily, a true Spartan one liner to which Anubis remarked.

"Couldn't even gamble it from him. You were looking for Taiyou?" He asked her before stepping aside letting her seeing Taiyou inside the medical bay. She nodded to Anubis and approached Taiyou, he then stood up from the bed, walking over to her and kiss his wife. The tender moment was cut short when he was slapped by Kassandra across his face, causing him to fall over.

"Where have you been? Running away without telling your own wife? Hera would have electrocuted you with her thunderbolts. Or smash you with Argus." Said Kassandra with a frown on her face...before she noticed he wasn't getting right back up like he normally did. "Are...you okay?" she asked in worry.

"Let's just say a LOT happened...and in the chaos I sorta...forgot. It didn't help you were away when it did, even if I should have at least left a message," Taiyou groaned apologetically, rubbing his cheek where he'd been slapped. The robot wolf doctor was taken off guard by the display of aggression and immediately his programming kicked in having him picking Taiyou up and helped him back on the bed.

It was at this point that Kassandra finally noticed the state her husband was in. "...what happened THIS time?" she asked flatly noting he was dressed in only a loincloth. Ever since she entered a relationship and eventually married him, she'd learned of a bizarre 'curse' that her new family seemed to suffer under. Namely for some reason or other, they always kept losing their clothes. She didn't even consider Taiyou cheating on her for even a second. He was too devoted and honest to do that.

"It's...a long story," Taiyou sighed. "One I'll be sure to tell you later. Suffice to say, I'm helping Anubis with something and while I don't fully agree with some of his...decisions...I still respect him enough to help and realize the dangers."

Kassandra sighed, shaking her head, but she was still smiling. "That's so much like you," she said, before smiling. "You should have told me so I could help too. We're a team, remember?"

"That's what I have you for to keep me from doing stupid things," Taiyou chuckled, pressing his forehead against hers as they shared another tender moment.

"Malaka! What were you thinking? Running away and not telling me? Don't use the 'I don't want to drag you in' excuse with me!" She scolded. "And now when I find you, you're clearly in bad shape. What happened?" she frowned, but not before pulling him close, her body glowing as she held him, and he felt some of his strength returning.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't really thinking," Taiyou admitted. "But I couldn't just not help. As for what happened…" he soon explained what had happened to her...and the next thing he knew she was hugging him tightly...to the point it was starting to hurt.

"My diagnostics of the patient show he is suffering from severe lack of oxygen and intense pressure." the robot doctor remarked dryly as he watched Kassandra hugging her husband and rubbed his chin. The robot doctor himself appeared to have an azure blue armor color with white silhouette of the Rod of Asclepius painted on his left chest panel and his round shoulder pads. "Lady Kassandra, you appear to be crushing him." Said Leandros in a matter of fact towards Kassandra.

Hearing that Kassandra let go. "Sorry," she said a little sheepishly.

"Its fine," Taiyou chuckled a bit. "I like your hugs, especially at night," he grinned, earning a light smack on the shoulder, though Kassandra seemed more amused than anything. She shushed at him playfully before kissing him on his lips passionately. "If you want to claim dominance, do it on your bed." Said Kassandra with an index finger held before his mouth.

She then looked back at Anubis who rubbed his head nervously. She was in a sense his daughter-in-law but knowing her Spartan temperament, even he dare not challenge her at times. "I can arrange for your stay. Leandros, Charlie lead them back to your hangar. I'm sure you two have a spare mattress or two in there, no?" He asked the two to which Charlie nodded to Anubis. "Sure d...dad. I think I can help them stay in my hangar, just hope I won't cringe seeing them have sex in there." Said Charlie hesitantly before he and Leandros led her and Taiyou out of the med bay.

"You call Anubis your dad? What happened that I don't know about?" Kassandra asked Taiyou bluntly as she followed Charlie and Leandros with the two helping Taiyou and her towards the hangar in the base. "Uh let's just say that Anubis… well uh… he claims I was his son and somehow I was murdered then he reincarnated my soul. I don't know how to wrap it around my head." Charlie stuttered hesitantly to which Kassandra gave him a glare and growl. "So Anubis is not above having affairs? Here I thought he was a man of principles and family." Said Kassandra with a sarcastic tone.

"Ease up on him Kassandra," Taiyou said. "You should know as well as me that things aren't THAT simple when it comes to Anubis," he reminded.

"Sorry love, but being reminded of Zeus is not rubbing me the right way." Said Kassandra as they entered the hangar of Charlie and Leandros, the two unlocked the side door and opened it, leading them into the hangar's interior. Inside they found that the place had one single room but the large space was segmented into various areas and wings using flaps and shade curtains.

The middle was a common room with a bunk bed for Leandros and Charlie to sleep on, tables and chairs. There were also shelves, racks for their weapons and gadgets, automated maintenance bed with mechanical arms to repair damages they sustain. There were also wooden wardrobes and closets containing spare clothes and other supplies. But overall the hangar was far from being an ideal home.

"This place is pretty homey," Taiyou couldn't help but say.

"It does have a well lived in feel to it," Kassandra agreed.

"Well it does remind me of my college campus, pretty lonely compared to this one." Said Charlie as he walked into the place with Leandros bringing out a spare mattress and lay it on the floor next to the bunk bed. They had to move the table and chairs further away to make rooms. Then Leandros fetched some bedsheets and pillows for Kassandra and Taiyou.

"This would be adequate for your sleeping needs." Said Leandros with Charlie nodded. "Yeah but don't make your step brother cringe by casually having sex right next to me when I try to sleep. Otherwise I'll have to share a room with that crazy raccoon." Charlie cringed and held himself with visible shaken in terror look on his face.

"I see…" Kassandra mused. "Then in that case, would it be okay to do so when you're not nearby?" she asked. "Or perhaps looking to get something to cancel the noise."

"Maybe knocking myself out with a mallet would be a good start." Said Charlie with a sarcastic tone towards her before he had to pick up Leandros like his baby brother and carried him over to the maintenance bed where Leandros had the automated mechanical arms repair his robot frame.

"Then I suppose when you are not around would suffice," Kassandra sighed.

Charlie held up his hands defensively to Kassandra and Taiyou as he attempts to convince them. "Hey don't take me wrong, it's just that… I went through some awkward situations before. So please don't take it personally." Said Charlie as he crossed his hands and sat down by his bunk bed.

Leandros himself was having his armor plates removed for his wirings and cables checked on. In the process, a holographic computer screen popped up in front of him showing a scan of his endoskeleton and system diagnostic. A cable was plugged into the back of his head to run diagnostic on his system. As the computer diagnostics scan his OS running anti virus and anti malware works, the result came out with Leandros being in the green before he was reassembled and released from the bed.

"Sorry about making you feel uncomfortable," Taiyou sighed. "She's doing it for my sake too."

"Alright explain to me WHY do you guys need to have sex?" Charlie asked Taiyou angrily with a frustrated expression on his robot face as Leandros came over and look up Kassandra's body.

"Its to do with my powers," Kassandra said, keeping her expression level.

"Oh what? Your power? What are you saying anyway?" Charlie asked frustratingly to Kassandra with a frown, only to see her undress herself, revealing her rather toned and well endowed body from her slender waist line to the wide hartman hips and shapely hourglass appearance. Her D-Cups were hanging on her chest making Charlie struggled to keep his eyes away from her melons only to have his hand reaching up for her breast slowly. She then swatted the hand away, "Find your own." Kassandra scowled him. "Well I found my own, two rods actually." Charlie shivered.

Kassandra huffed out before kissing Taiyou passionately on his lips, before gently pushing him down on the mattress starting their foreplay, removing his loincloth. As she did, her divine marking began to grow more obvious to Charlie's eyes, these were apparently deity divine markings similar to Taiyou only they were emerald green like a Hellenic wreathe. Her aura spread out on the floor like a shining wreath made of sunlight rays touching Charlie and Leandros in the process. It made both of the robots felt oddly calm and their heartbeats began to slow down.

Taiyou enjoyed the feeling for a moment, before pulling away so he could speak. "Kassandra is a goddess too. She ascended a long time ago, and now she's the goddess of Hope, and one of her powers is healing," he explained, as his own markings started to glow, the green energy spreading into him.

Charlie hearing this grunted and had a double take on his face as he witnessed Taiyou and Kassandra making love to one another with the latter began to press her breasts against Taiyou's chest and rubbed them against his pectoral region gently.

As she kissed him, her legs were wrapped around his waist pulling them closer to one another. "Darling who is that blue robot there?" Kassandra asked Taiyou about Leandros as she gave a glance at him, prompting him to place his hands on his hips. "I am his tour guide." Leandros replied tersely.

"Well, he also helped me out quite a bit. I admit I'd have been in DEEP trouble if he weren't there to help," Taiyou said. "So treat him nicely," he added with a light chuckle.

Kassandra chuckled as she continued to make love to her husband, pushing her envelope on him with her kisses and grinding her vulva against his rod all the while making loud moaning and groaning sounds that made Charlie turn his face away flustered with red and embarrassment at how sudden sex was going out in his own place.

"Okay you two do whatever you want but let me know when you're done!" Charlie panted and huffed out before walking away from sight to a private section of the hangar and sat down there. Taiyou and Kassandra could hear what sounded like a video game console booting up with him playing something.

"Think we went too far?" Taiyou couldn't help but ask.

"When it comes to your well being, never." Said Kassandra with nonchalant tone as she began to take in his rod into her vulva all the while Leandros stood idly there watching the two apparently his mind was too blank to understand the concept of privacy or he was too inexperienced with sexual intercourse to feel awkward by it.

In the meantime, Charlie killed time by sitting down on a chair with his PreyStation 4 controller in his paws, his TV switched on to play a session of Dog of War with him grinding through the journey of Kratos once again. His other games were apparently brought with him from Zootopia ranging from Claws of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered, Battlefur 4, Assassin Cats: Origins and Odyssey, Rodent Six: Siege. He wasn't particularly happy with the extended deity family he was introduced to and now he felt at odds with the place that he was supposed to fit in.

XXXX

The next day came with Taiyou back in the Medical Bay with Anubis, Charlie, Kassandra and Leandros present there with him. They all watched in concern as Taiyou was being diagnosed by the doctor, in the process, Asklepios gave Taiyou first an optical examination testing his vision, followed by a process of testing his pulses, heartbeat monitoring.

They waited anxiously for hours before seeing Asklepios coming out of the room with Taiyou's test results in hand. "It seems that he is well within the intended parameters, physical health has yet to recover to its fullest so I advise caution. Especially around the dark birds." Said the doctor as he let Taiyou walk out to meet his wife Kassandra, who hugged him tenderly. Prompting him to return the favor.

"By intended parameters, what do you mean? What can I or can I not do?" Taiyou asked.

"It means that you could use your Brush techniques, but can't abuse it. You can perform close quarter combat moves but with reduced strength. It'll take you days before you finally return to full strength." The doctor elaborated before Leandros glanced up at Taiyou and Kassandra. "In short, do not hurt your husband for the moment." Said Leandros with an almost sarcastic voice almost like he was taunting her. "Taiyou is that metal puppy trying to outwit me?" Kassandra asked with a glare at Leandros.

"I...can't say for sure," Taiyou sweat dropped. "He's kinda always been that way since I met him."

"Oh really? Then I suppose I better remind him not to attempt anything like that again." Kassandra huffed out at Leandros, who crossed his arms and glared at her. "You are welcome to try. But I have no reasons to focus on you." Leandros replied, which made Kassandra rub her forehead finding him rather snarky towards her. "I do not know why would Anubis create you but better watch your mouth. Or whatever you have to speak." Said Kassandra with a frown on her forehead, prompting Charlie to step up.

"Hey cut it out you two, I have enough problems with training, and Ops already. The last thing I need is to find my extended deity family are all dysfunctional nut cases." Charlie sighed out as he shot a frown and glare at both Taiyou and Kassandra. "And no touching Leandros, he's like a baby brother to me." Said Charlie with a glare directed straight at Kassandra.

Kassandra looked at him for a moment, and sighed. "Very well. Besides, I DO owe him for saving my husband, so I will leave him be," she said.

Leandros however tilted his head to the side hearing Charlie apparently protective attitude towards him. "I do not understand your sibling designation towards me." Said Leandros in a more slightly confused tone before they went outside of the medical bay.

With them gone, Kassandra turned to Asklepios. "Just how far can my husband push himself?" She asked him cautiously to which the robot doctor sighed out as he put his report into a tray. "In my diagnosis and recommendations, don't strain him with anything Celestial Brush techniques related. And most importantly don't push him in straining physical activities for at least a week." Ascelpius instructed sternly before seeing Kassandra nodded to him. "Very well, I won't break a single bone in his body, yet." Said Kassandra as she walked out of the medical bay noticing Taiyou, Charlie and Leandros were at a nearby firing range where Charlie was demonstrating to Taiyou some of his firearms marksmanship skills.

"Dearest, I know a way to test your strength and condition. Break some sweats rather than a few bones." Said Kassandra as she came to Taiyou only to hear Charlie's Storm Rider assault rifle let loose a loud burst of automatic fire at the cardboard targets down range.

Taiyou looked at her flatly. "It's going to involve you throwing me around a ring, isn't it?" he said dryly.

"Most definitely," she said with a cheerful expression.

"...sure, it's better than having to fight in the field," Taiyou shrugged. That and he knew if he waited, she'd probably go at it even harder when he WAS fully healed. "Now then, Leandros isn't it? Do you have a wrestling or at least boxing ground?" She asked the robot Lucario and he nodded to her request. "I do, it's in a hangar that we're using. Let me show you." Said Leandros as he nonchalantly led them to the hangar where he previously beaten up several flesh and blood warriors.

XXXX

The ring had been cleared for the private match between Taiyou and Kassandra with the staff cleaned up the place of any remaining saliva or blood from the previous sparring match between Leandros and the organic jackal warriors. Anubis and Charlie were seen watching from a makeshift audience box with Leandros while Belisarius and Arminius were observing the two up close to judge the match results.

"This is the most out of the ordinary for me, she's a Greek woman through and through and yet she is goddess of the Rising Sun pantheon?" Arminius asked perplexed as he stood there observing the the two combatants getting ready to fight. "It is rather odd, two thousand years since our death and already the world has thrown curve balls at us." Said Belisarius scratching his smooth chrome head.

"Its to do with a series of events several centuries ago," Anubis sighed, standing next to them. "Suffice to say, she touched his heart and he touched hers, and through circumstances tied to the both of them, she came to embody something that went hand in hand with him."

"Really my lord? I know the tale of Eros and Psyche, but even then they were in the Greek Pantheon. This will take me time to get accustomed to." Belisarius shrugged to Anubis as he then looked at the sparring match that was about to take place. Taiyou and Kassandra were seen entering the ring on opposite sides with both of them being naked as was the tradition for greek wrestling. Kassandra herself seems to be unfazed by it with her D-Cups jiggling about as she moved, while Taiyou had a rather tired yet amused look, as if this wasn't the first time something like this happened.

"Perhaps. Then again...when has there been a god whose desire is to see a world where gods and mortals walk side by side as friends and equals?" Anubis asked rhetorically and sarcastically, remembering the dream Taiyou held, one he held even to this day. A dream born from the first journey he undertook as a child, with those companions who would forever leave a mark on the younger god's life.

"Well in our experiences and memories, you do." Arminius remarked sarcastically to Anubis, to which he broke a faint smirk. "Touche." He replied. "Is that because of the time I spent with you two?" hearing Anubis asked a rather tempting question Belisarius nodded to him eagerly and obediently. "Oh yes indeed. Those are times well spent tending to us and work on our cooperation." He replied.

Down at the ring, Taiyou sighed as he got ready. "The usual, I assume?" he said wryly.

"Of course," Kassandra chuckled, before getting into a ready stance. "You'd better not hold back, dear."

"I've done a lot of dumb things here and there, but that would take the cake, especially now," Taiyou deadpanned, readying himself as well.

Kassandra was seen cracking her knuckles ready to get into a fight with Taiyou. She came up close with him and the two began to hold their shoulders with both hands trying to move their arms to dislodge their opponent and topple them. Pankration, the Greek boxing and wrestling sport that Anubis partook in during his youth and childhood years.

Taiyou and Kassandra grunted as they tried to push against each other, before Taiyou lashed out with a kick, pushing her back a little. Kassandra let out a grunt, before she regained her footing and charged forward, slamming into Taiyou who gasped and grabbed a hold of her, the two pushing against each other in a struggle for dominance. "You really go all out from the start, don't you?" Taiyou managed to say, trying to maintain his footing.

"Did you expect anything less?" Kassandra chuckled, maintaining the pressure while adjusting her weight here and there to keep him from being able to gain a stable footing. "Knowing you, absolutely not." Taiyou remarked as he then pushed forward at her. Trying to use his strength to pressure Kassandra into giving way and fall over. Only for her to snap at his ears and trying to bite one of them, only to find it out of reach as she forced him back. "No rules in Pankration." She remarked.

"Ah, it seems Kassandra here is no slouch, Spartan women are to be respected for this." Belisarius commented as he observe the match that was being played out before him. Arminius nodded to his mate as he observed Taiyou's movement and his legs firmness. "A bit unstable there. They say firm as mountains, tranquil as rivers, silent as forests and swift as the wind. And here he is lacking the first." the robot commented.

"Since he was young, the boy has been through several adventures of his own. It seemed other than learning how to use and control his powers, he has never had any formal training beyond some basics, thus his style revolves around adapting to the situation rather than following any exact method or technique," Anubis said simply.

"Improvisation in the face of adversity and lacking framework to rely on. A true Roman material he has there." Belisarius whistled in awe as he watched Kassandra being able to force Taiyou leaning to the right and slowly falling over. He lost his balance with his left leg lifting up and unable to set itself down on solid ground.

"Watch your step dear. Tumbles here might cost you the match," Kassandra grinned as she pounced on him, putting her weight on him.

"The match isn't over until it's over," Taiyou growled, pushing back against her as he tried to roll them over, but as it was, Kassandra was using her legs and arms to minimize his leverage.

"She's pretty good, I'll give her that. A woman from Sparta with regimented training. She has a framework of what to do in situations like this." Arminirus remarked in a rather impressed tone as he observed Kassandra tumbling Taiyou over while her divine godly form pressed on his body and begin to jab and punch him repeatedly. It was now time for boxing as her fists flew at his face, it would have been a bruising experience for him if it weren't for his wrists holding off her attacks and shielding his face.

Taiyou grit his teeth as he did his best to defend himself. Aside from trying to focus on defending himself, he had to deal with trying to find a way to roll them over...and at the same time dealing with the feeling of his wife pressed down on him...

"Well now Taiyou, you're gallant enough to lose to your wife. Don't show the same to your femme fatales." Said Anubis sarcastically. As the match continues on, the Abyssal Scribe was seen entering the hangar seemingly curious at the scuffling that was going on.

The moment he entered the place however, he stopped midway with his beak dropped wide open and he suddenly puffed and panted lustfully at the sight of Kassandra pressed against Taiyou as the two fought. He grinned in delight and grabbed his book, opening the holographic item to an empty page and began to draw on it detailing the physical appearance of Kassandra and her skill in combat.

Her every fiber of muscles, her fur color, toned and proportionate body and her D-Cups, he drew with painstaking detail. Not just that, he was also drinking in the details of the two wolves fighting, their fur glistened with sweat as they fought for dominance, two godly examples of male and female physique bare for him to drink in.

Then he flipped to another page and began to draw on it various plans and designs for a Nanosuits overlaying on Kassandra's body with particular interest placed on the breast plates of the suit, as well as working on some additional designs for Taiyou's next suit. "Yes. Yes. Yes! Hoohoo Hoohoo. This is the most interesting design I've ever conceived. Oh, imagine the possibilities." He cackled while continuing his scrawls.

Back at the ring, Taiyou saw an opening, and lashed out with a palm thrust, hitting Kassandra in the chest, and her momentary pause was enough for him to flip her over, now with him on top. "Gotcha," he allowed a small smirk as he pushed down on her, aiming to pin her limbs down, but Kassandra wasn't making it easy, fighting back against him. "I'm going to win this round, dear," he asserted.

"Your wife thinks otherwise." Kassandra retorted as she pushed back against Taiyou, pinching on his nerves to throw off his grip on one side of her then push him over completely, exploiting the advantage she had found. She then quickly grabbed his left shoulder and pushed him aside, pinning him down on his back.

"Now lie down," she said, before pinning his arms in a spread position, and thrusting her chest into his face, causing her breasts to press against his face. Taiyou let out a surprised gasp, before he started struggling again, which was hard to do when he couldn't see clearly, his arms and legs pinned, and with his wife's scent and assets filling his vision and smell, he felt himself getting...hard…

Kassandra gulped thickly as she felt his member start to poke against her, while the feel of him between her breasts also made her feel rather wet, but she pressed on, determined to win. Taiyou himself felt his erection harden with her breasts squished into his face and the feeling of her nipples beginning to harden in the intensely intimate moment. This was beginning to take its toll on him, but he didn't want to lose to her, and yet she was fighting him with the one thing he had always lost to. Her erotic enticement and temptation.

To Anubis and his two trusted robot wolves watched the match playing out, it would seem the back and forth actions was leading the match to a victory for Kassandra, and she would have Taiyou be subjected to her punishments, costing him precious time. Anubis sighed out seeing the expression on Taiyou's face and stood up declaring an end to the match. "Enough!" He shouted to them.

"It is done for now. I hope you are satisfied Kassandra." Anubis walked down the audience box and entered the ring as Kassandra let Taiyou go and allow him to stand up, though both seemed rather stiff if the hardened nipples on her breasts and his now hard penis were any indications.

"More or less…" Kassandra sighed, eyeing her husband's firm member with a rather hungry look, one Taiyou noticed as they both blushed. However, Kassandra quickly shifted her focus to Anubis. "But I want to ask you Anubis what is going on here?" She glanced over to the two robot wolves that were observing the match the whole time before glancing back at Anubis, seeing how he had become a machine, a robot deity even if it makes any sense.

"What have you done to yourself?" She asked him, to which Anubis sighed out. "Nothing that will be harmful to me or anyone else." He tersely remarked to her and deferred to Taiyou with a hand gesture. "Ask him for details. Not a lot of happy faces seeing this, but they get used to it." He finished with Kassandra being cautiously concerned around his presence.

Taiyou sighed at that. "He's...more or less still himself," he said, before putting a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Come along. There's...a LOT for me to tell you. Let's go somewhere else to talk…"

Kassandra frowned, but nodded slowly, the two walking out of the room. As the two left the room, Anubis was approached by the Abyssal Scribe who projected the designs of his Nanosuits on his book's holographic page.

"My lord, perhaps this would please you? Or should I say, pleasure my longing for creation and innovation." The Scribe lewdly offered, Anubis observed the projector of the Nanosuits design and stroked his chin before giving a nod.

"That would work. Get rid of the more… cheeky features Scribe, the last thing I need is a grope in the middle of a firefight." The Scribe laughed out a hearty one when he heard Anubis' words and proceeded to exit the hangar. "As you wish my lord."

XXXX

After the sparring match, the two were given a quick shower and some fresh clothing to wear, Taiyou was given a T-shirt with a red sun logo on while Kassandra herself was given a black one with a red lambda letter on it. The two were given shorts to fit with the hot climate of Egypt with Kassandra bearing dark red while Taiyou was linen cloth white. They were led by Charlie and Leandros back to their hangar for some downtime in the base as it was the weekend, but by the next day it would be work again for everyone.

"You WHAT?!" was the shout that Kassandra let out as Taiyou finished telling her everything. After the match, the two had gotten cleaned up, and as promised, Taiyou told her everything, including the return of their old enemy. "This...it...it can't be true…" she gasped desperately, as memories of those painful days came back. "Eclipse can't be back…" she said, her voice losing much of the vitality she'd had before, her eyes gaining a distant look from the memories.

"He is," Taiyou sighed, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I would recognize him anywhere, and that robot was definitely him, not just a reconstruction."

"Taiyou dearest, what do you think we should do now? We can't just sit back and let him run free and yet we can't just throw ourselves into the fray against him blindly?" Kassandra asked Taiyou worriedly.

"And I have no intention of going in blindly. Still...the fact remains that he is back, and thus I can't just ignore it," Taiyou sighed. "In a way, a part of me wishes you weren't involved after what happened last time...but…" he trailed off, to which Kassandra held him close.

"Don't say that! I already nearly lost you once to that monster! The idea that you're fighting him alone...I…" she trailed off, feeling a tightness in her chest. Even after all these centuries, the pain that monster inflicted on them...it never left them fully. She calmed a little when she felt him hug her, pulling her close.

"Shhh...don't worry my love. I won't act recklessly, nor will I tell you to stay out of it," he said soothingly. "We won against him once side by side, and we will win again the same way once again," he said, before he kissed her on the lips.

Kassandra's eyes softened as she kissed him back, the two breathing in each other's scent, and after everything...they knew what they wanted to do next. "You're still not off the hook you know," she said, her tone gaining a lustful smirk. The two of them were currently dressed in thin robes after their baths...which would serve very little protection for what was to come.

"I don't intend to lose this time," Taiyou smirked in return as he eyed her body lustfully. Both of them loosened their robes...before they pounced, Kassandra moving faster, and pushed him down onto the bed, their robes flying off in the movement as the two wolves were soon wrestling on the bed naked. Taiyou tried to flip them over, but Kassandra was faster, and before he could fully counter, he soon found her breasts in his face again, muffling his voice as she pressed down on him.

"I hope that's not all you're going to offer oh great prince of the sun," Kassandra chuckled, pressing down on her husband as she moved around, rubbing her breasts into his face, causing him to struggle as his member soon hardened again. However, when she moved to try and rub her lower lips against his penis...he let out a muffled roar and pushed her back, flipping them over, with her arms now pinned and him on top of her, a rather hungry look in his eyes.

"You really know how to get a guy...excited," Taiyou smirked, licking his lips. Hungrily he moved his face closer to her nipples preparing to feast on her prized assets.

"Let's see who can outlast the other," Kassandra challenged as she looked up at her looming husband. That was the last coherent thing she could say before he started sucking on her breast feverishly. She cried out in pleasure as her head rolled back from the feeling of his rough tongue rolling against her hard nipples, while his sharp teeth scraped against the delicate flesh.

"Delicious," Taiyou smirked as he licked his lips and switched breasts. Kassandra moaned as he continued to do so, but she was also looking for an opening...one she found when he stopped and was preparing to drive his member into her...to which she pushed forward and flipped them over.

"You look quite tasty yourself," she grinned, running her fingers through his chest fur. "Now I'm going to eat you right up," she said before positioning over his penis, and swallowing it up in her lower lips, both of them letting out shouts of pleasure as they began to make love.

But while Taiyou and Kassandra failed to notice their love making was disturbing Charlie and to a lesser extent, Leandros. The robot arctic wolf turned away blushing and folded his bed sheet over his face, then buried his face under the pillow. Leandros himself didn't sigh or make any sounds of disgust, he instead grabbed a pair of earbuds on the bed and put them on his pointy triangular ears to block out the sound, while listening to his personal collection of Gato Michael's hit songs.

Back with the couple, they continued making love, Kassandra crying out in pleasure as she was on her back again, Taiyou grasping her fully, pressing his well muscled body against hers as he enjoyed the feel of her bountiful breasts against his bare chest, while she enjoyed the feel of his strong muscles against hers. Their muzzles soon met as they kissed each other passionately, letting out howls into the kiss as they hit their climaxes, Taiyou filling her womb with his seed. The two continued well into the night till finally both were completely spent. The two were left still firmly locked together, laying side by side as they stroked each other.

"Another draw?" Taiyou chuckled tiredly.

"Looks like it," Kassandra panted with a tired smile...before she frowned a bit. "What happens now?"

"We face what comes together," Taiyou said, kissing her on the forehead as they drifted off into peaceful slumber.

XXXX

They slept through the night, comfort in each other's embrace and ignorant of the going ons within the Army Base itself. Surrounded by robots working tirelessly and yet they couldn't help but notice how humanlike these machines were when the majority of them went into their barracks to sleep. How these barracks work for robots was anyone's guess as Taiyou and Kassandra were in a hangar used by Leandros.

During the night they slept soundly with Leandros sleeping on top of a double deck bed with Charlie sleeping on the bottom. With the robot's built in clock striking 4 in the morning, they began to wake up with their systems booting the HUD elements. The base's sirens began to blare, klaxons waking the robots up in their barracks while Taiyou and Kassandra were disturbed by the loud wake up call.

Leandros and Charlie were seen hopping off of their beds and went to brush their teeth together in a small sink. Once they were done, the two were seen running out to the base's exterior, forming up to a company of robot wolves. All of whom were sporting pixelated digital grey and silver camouflage pattern.

At the forefront of this company were Belisarius and Arminius warming them up to a round of marching order around Lake Mareotis. They began to stomp their feet on the sand and grasses there before quickly picking up their paces and run along the lake's bank down south to the nearby fishing villages before heading back.

Along the way, they felt the cold Mediterranean air of the night and early dawn, the atmosphere was made even more mysterious as the fog obscured their line of sights, requiring the robots to utilize their low light vision mode. This optical mode basks the world they see in a grey and white color filter allowing them to see through the fog at the sacrifice of color and texture of objects before them.

Back with the couple, both groaned as they were awoken. "So much for a peaceful night," Taiyou sighed.

"But I guess we should have expected this. It IS a military base," Kassandra sighed, as the two got out of bed.

"Nothing to do but get ready too," Taiyou shrugged as the two of them got ready for the day, cleaning themselves up and getting dressed, though they wore their normal clothes from back home for now, knowing they'd be issued proper military clothing in time.

As they woke up and got dressed for the time being, they saw that the robots outside were strangely enough engaged in physical exercises. They may not be living organic beings and their muscles would not require them to engage in physical activities to keep themselves fit and yet they act as if they were humans.

The anthro robot wolves were doing push ups, warm up practices and even some were already running obstacle courses solo like the perfectionists they were. Pushing their minds and bodies further beyond the standard they already have, timing and observing the obstacles laid out before them to make one perfect run. Combat slides into a concrete pipe, dolphin dive under barbed wires and crawled through the lane. Even climbing walls with their pawpads and fast roping, swinging across mud pits were the usual activities they engaged in to keep them fit.

"Say what we want about Anubis's decisions, but he's gotten a disciplined army," Kassandra said.

"Disciplined, reliable, and well equipped," Taiyou nodded in agreement, remembering the battles he'd fought alongside the people here so far.

Soon enough Kassandra and Taiyou saw that Leandros and Charlie were returning from the morning Olympic run, Leandros and Charlie came to the couple and the robot Pokemon bowed his head to Taiyou to greet him. "Good morning Taiyou and Kassandra. Allow me to lead you both to our mess hall. Anubis will be having his breakfast there with you." Leandros stated to them both as he slow down the running pace of his legs for his servo to adjust accordingly.

"We'd appreciate that, thank you," Kassandra said with a polite nod. She still wasn't sure about all these robots, but if her husband vouched for this one, then she'd trust his judgement, especially considering he DID save him from Eclipse.

Leandros would then lead them to the mess hall located in the center of the Barracks area of the camp, it was a longhouse built from wooden planks and the rooftop was covered by straws to help ventilate the sunlight and desert heat easier.

Once inside they saw that the furniture there were long tables and chairs made from woods imported from abroad, namely from Greece and the far reaches of the Norsemen. Anubis was seen sitting by one of the table, accompanied by the Abyssal Scribe and Crow sitting opposite of him allowing him to observe both at the same time.

The Scribe spotted Leandros coming in and quickly gestured for the robot Pokemon to join him. "Come come Little One, sit down with me, your favorite Scribe and let us indulge in our various secrets together." Said the Scribe as he gently wrapped his hand around Leandros' shoulder as he sat down next to the Abyssal deity. The dark Ibis was seen stroking the head and dreadlocks of Leandros tenderly while Taiyou and Kassandra sat with Anubis and Charlie.

"Good morning," Taiyou said, keeping his tone civil...even if he didn't want to get too close to the Scribe if he could help it. He knew they were on Anubis's side, but the Scribe was just a little too touchy feel for his taste.

"Salutation to the young sun prince." The Crow opened up with a civil tone, his grin and that of the Scribe were equal part disturbing and strangely reassuring, "Morning to you too Taiyou. You have to excuse the sirens, this is a military base after all." Said Anubis as he drank the morning milk from his golden goblet. "Oh my lord I have great ideas I am obligated to tell you. I have finished drafts for improved Nanosuits to both Taiyou and his wife the lovely Kassandra."

"One for me?" Kassandra blinked in surprise.

"Oh yessss. Indeed my dear lady of Sparta. A Nanosuits for you, a fine piece of modern technological marvel, an armored battle suit to protect a warrior into battle." Said the Scribe with an exclamation of excitement, he stood up from the table and moved his head closer to Kassandra's breasts. "With emphasises placed on your prized assets that is." Said the Scribe with a wide sadistic and perverse grin on his robot avian face.

What followed was well...a loud slap, and the Scribe hit the ground not far from the table, Kassandra's face red with embarrassment and rage. "Eyes to yourself, pervert!" she growled.

"I'd like to say I didn't expect that ...but honestly I did," Taiyou groaned.

"You say that like he didn't deserve it," Kassandra said flatly.

"He does," Taiyou said shamelessly with a small chuckle.

"Settle down." Anubis cut in, interrupting the conversation to instill order. "As Taiyou can attest, the Nanosuits prototype… that lasted as long as it could… was an effective combat suit in enhancing his power and strength while protecting the wearer from enemy attacks." Said Anubis as he looked up at the Scribe's face and shot a deathly glare at him.

"No tricks." The bruised Scribe nodded and chuckled at his superior. "As you wish. I'll get to work soon, for the time being, the couple here should be given proper… attires for the place. Until their proper Nanosuits are done." Said The Scribe as he stood up from the table and walked away with his food tray to deposit it into the cleaning sink.

As he walked away, he swayed his hips from side to side and show off his rumps to the couple, they could see his rumps had a crevice with a shiny round port where his anus would be. His rear access port if they could stomach the thought.

"...is he really necessary?" Kassandra growled in annoyance.

"Unfortunately yes," Taiyou sighed. "I'd probably not have survived fighting Thanatos AND Medusa if it weren't for the armor he provided."

"Lord Anubis has made it clear that the Abyssal Scribe is a necessary agent of darkness. Providing in depth knowledge of technical and mechanical know how and that of the Abyssal Void." Leandros monotonously replied to Kassandra as he looked up at her face while the Crow casually chewed on his breakfast of apple and corn. "And I constitutes the intel half of the two. I look forward to our future fruitful cooperation." The Crow snickered and shook Kassandra's hand with a tight grip. She can feel his cold darkness and the bone chilling sinister energy coming from his cocky perverse grin.

"Gladly…" Kassandra gritted her teeth in disgust as she shook his hand before he retracted it and winked at her. "I will be outside if you need me, my lady." Said the Crow with chuckle. "Ignore him, he just like to mess around with the ladies like that." Anubis assured Kassandra and Taiyou as he kept an eye on the Crow levitating outside.

"If he goes too far though I won't make any promises...other than that I won't kill him," Kassandra said flatly.

"And if he tries anything he REALLY shouldn't, I can't promise even that," Taiyou said sunnily, but the threat was clear.

"Right. Duly noted. From now on, you two will be with Leandros and Charlie, they'll show you to their unit and help you two adjusted. Oh and Taiyou, perhaps you should write home while you can, the rest of the day will be training." Anubis then stood up from the table and walked away from them, they were then led by Charlie and Leandros back to the hangar they live in.

Charlie opened the door and entered it with Leandros to switch on the light for Taiyou and Kassandra giving the hangar interior a deep blue tint. Charlie folded his bedsheet and pillow to clean his double deck bed while Leandros was seen switching on a holographic computer with the screen being hologram touch screens.

On the screens were various maps, globe display of borders, projected boundaries of empires like Rome, Greek Polis and Macedonia, Egypt, India, Persia, China, Nippon and numerous other locations.

Scattered around the global map were dark red areas being considered deadly or dangerous frontier regions. These regions were apparently around Carthage, Anatolia, the Rus Steppes, the Caucasus mountains, Persia and Mesopotamia with some patches in the Far East and Mesomerica.

"What are we looking at here?" Taiyou asked. "I know its a globe, but what's in these red regions beyond just 'danger'?"

"Apep's land. Regions he control after riling up a segment of the populace and establish his fortresses there. The locals are still fighting back so consider those places warzones." Leandros explained to Taiyou nonchalantly as he zoomed in one of the red areas on the holographic globe. This one was somewhere in Pontus-Scythia.

"Apep? So he is causing trouble again," Kassandra frowned.

"When does he not?" Charlie asked sarcastically. Leandros showed Taiyou and Kassandra some aerial recon photos taken by Horus with a name tag on the "AUTHOR" section of the photos with date stamped on. The first sets of photos showed what appeared to be a Greek colony on the edge of the Black Sea, then the next set of photos showed the city in ruins and burning with a massive fortress of concrete, steel and metal erected in the background.

"With each fortress they erect, they grow stronger in one area. But rarely do they coordinate across the globe to avoid complete destruction of their chain of command." Leandros monotonously explained to them. "You guys will need to get used to him, he's more on the robomono side of speaking." Charlie reminded them as he placed a stack of ammo into the armory wing of the hangar and lock up the ammo racks there.

"So I'm guessing the goal is to break down the fortresses as many as we can?" Taiyou checked. "Not to mention continue to undermine attempts to get at Void Energy."

Leandros nodded to them both as he then handed Taiyou a Papyrus piece of paper and some pencils for him to write on. "We have about 10 minutes before your training commences. I suggest you should write home while you can." Leandros stated to Taiyou before showing him to a desk that Leandros often use allowing Taiyou a space to write.

Sighing, Taiyou sat down and started writing.

Dear Mom, Dad, Uncle Susano-O, and Uncle Tsukuyomi,

Sorry I sorta vanished for a while. I'm still alive and well, Kassandra being here too, and am currently with Anubis. Things are going on, and suffice to say I've unofficially volunteered to help with several things. We'll still be able to keep in touch, but until then we'll be staying here. Don't worry, we're in good hands.

Love, Taiyou.

P.S.

Go easy on Anubis, Uncle Susano-O and Tsukuyomi. He's not having it that easy either.

"Think this'll look good?" he asked Kassandra, showing her the letter.

"Suffice would be the right word." Said Kassandra as he read the letter and reviewed its content before giving him an approval nod to send a letter to his family. "Your uncles however… they would do the exact opposite of what you wish." Said Kassandra with a concerned frown on her face knowing that Taiyou's uncles would no doubt take actions to find him. "In any case, let's get ourselves dressed for the barracks. It would be a shame to dress for a ballroom of combat." Kassandra stated before looking at Leandros seemingly meaning to ask him for direction.

"Right this way." Leandros then led them to the other side of the hangar where the two were introduced to a wardrobe containing a number of outfits. Some were of Charlie, others were military uniform. Leandros then picked out two pieces of uniforms for Taiyou and Kassandra. These were shirts with a dark brown and earth tan camouflage color called Choco-Chip with a patch of the Jackal Guards coat of arms bearing the image of Anubis' Jackal head silhouette drawn in gold over a purple background.

Taiyou and Kassandra were then issued with a pair of helmets to wear over their heads with slits to keep their ears perking up and a pair of goggles over the helmets to cover their eyes from sand and wind of Egypt. The helmets in turn were covered in a layer of kevlar material to resist incoming bullets, or at least slow them down before hitting the helmet's hard metal surface. The kevlar layer in turn was painted with matching camouflage color to that of Taiyou and Kassandra's uniforms.

"Well...these sure look like they're made for war," Taiyou mused. War was never a major interest to him. Up till now, he'd mainly been more akin to a hero in folklore than an actual soldier.

"So these protect my eyes from the elements without sacrificing my vision?" Kassandra asked Leandros curiously as she had only seen goggles like that for the first time in her life, to which he nodded and replied dryly. "Affirmative, they are meant to protect your eyes from sandstorms. However they are not bulletproof." He then watched as Kassandra put on the rectangular set of goggles and helmet on her head finding it to be rather fitting with the goggles being easy to put on and pull off. "How thoughtful." She mused.

As Taiyou and Kassandra were putting on their uniforms, Leandros simply stood outside of their changing area waiting with the two silhouetted by the curtains segmenting that section of the hangar off from prying eyes. Once they had their uniforms on and stepped out, Leandros quietly gave them a thumb up seemingly approved of their look being fit for the job. "Your appearance is five by five." Leandros stated.

Both of them looked at him a bit flatly. "Uh...okay?" Taiyou blinked.

"If that was supposed to be a joke, it needs work," Kassandra said dryly.

Charlie came to them and patted Leandros shoulder before scratching the back of his head nervously. "Yeah he needs practice with his humor. Not exactly a pro at it." He chuckled nervously with Kassandra whispering to Taiyou's ear while keeping her eyes on Charlie's athletic look. "He look sculpted for Sparta, if only he has the heart and mind of a Spartan." She stated sarcastically to Taiyou who held his hands up defensively to her. "Kassandra dear, please go easy on my surprise step-brother here. I don't think he's ready for your Laconic wit."

"I can hear you two you know?" Charlie grumbled annoyed by Kassandra's snark before leading them outside of the hangar. "Alright, so I guess you guys are pretty experienced in combat right?" Charlie asked as they went out to a firing range of the base where some robots were practicing their marksmanship with various firearms and standard issued rifles there.

"If you mean just combat or various skirmishes, then yes," Taiyou nodded. "We've had some experience in a variety of situations, but being part of a proper military group...this is the first time," he sighed.

"I was familiar with the Moira of Sparta." Kassandra added.

Charlie then sighed out hearing this and began to walk back and forth in front of them. "Alright I take it that you two can handle yourself in raiding fortresses filled with unorganized enemies without auto turrets." Said Charlie with a bit of sarcasm in his tone. "They were fine quarters. For women." Said Kassandra regarding the fortresses. "Right then. Well your enemies aren't slashing and hacking anymore. Not with swords and spears anyway. Instead, they will engage you with this."

Charlie then held up to Taiyou and Kassandra an example of COBRA's weapon, what appeared to be a black mattel rifle with an all metal body and black as night finish. The rifle appeared to have a fixed buttstock that wedged downward at where armpit and shoulder would be. It also had a carry handle on the top with a long barrel inside a triangular fore handle.

Taiyou didn't need any prompting, and aimed for the target and pulled the trigger. His shot was...a bit off.

"You see that, he sprayed bullets all over the damn range." Charlie shouted to Kassandra pointing at Taiyou as an example of how not to use a weapon. "You got to aim your weapon from a stable stance. Crouch first, aim down your sight and fire semi auto to maintain stability." Charlie instructed to Taiyou, first the white wolf deity assume a crouching position with Charlie helping Taiyou aim using the iron sights of the weapon. Once he was able, Taiyou open fire again at the cardboard target, this time seeing his shot pierced the center mass.

"You see that? That's how you take down your target. First shot counts. First kill even better." Charlie boasted before giving Taiyou a different weapon, the Storm Rider. The standard issued bullpup rifle of the Jackal Guards. This one appeared to be much more futuristic with a helical drum magazine that was motorized to minimize jamming. The top of the weapon had a holographic laser sight to allow Taiyou effective panoramic aiming.

"You are to hit more than half of the 40 targets that will pop up. Marksmanship is of paramount." Leandros reminded Taiyou as he then began to have the targets plaque pop up for Taiyou to engage, he had to snap to his targets one at a time, with his bullet casing eject from the chamber and fall clanking to the ground, he soon felt the heat and kickback of the weapon to be like a mule.

"Right, I'll keep that in mind," Taiyou nodded, before trying again, putting their advice to good use.

Some of the targets were apparently struck down with added Ink Bullets effects instead of the usual FMJ penetration. Occasionally, he saw the bullets becoming something of an extension of his Power Slash as they tear through wooden barricades and car wrecks on the range. "I am detecting anomalies in weapon performances. Heightened penetrative power and splash damage on impact." Said Leandros as he monitored the rifle performance and the target plaques that were hit.

Once the marksmanship test was done, Charlie brought up the targets again to measure Taiyou's marksmanship. He surveyed the target plaques before finding that Taiyou had hit 32 of the 40 targets. Some were missing the center mass but overall Taiyou had made a fair performance. Charlie returned and gave Taiyou a thumbs up, Leandros next to Charlie however gave Taiyou two thumbs up.

Next was Kassandra's turn. Much like her husband, she wasn't quite used to this type of weapon, but slowly and surely, she was getting better at it with each attempt.

At first the bullets were off targets, often hitting the dirt around the plaques or simply bounce off sands. But she soon readjust with her military mentality of Sparta guiding her patiently aiming and fire. Her shots began to connect to their targets and knock down targets easily. "Alright you're pretty good I'll give you that." Charlie huffed out seeing Kassandra scoring slightly better than Taiyou, to which she chuckled to Charlie. "I see a jealous man behind the metal mask." Said Kassandra as Charlie huffed out and turn his face away from her with a blush.

"I would rate your performance, a 9/10." Leandros nonchalantly replied to Kassandra, prompting her to give him a kiss on his forehead.

"You're too kind," she chuckled.

Leandros simply stood there, stunned, he didn't seem swoon as it was hard to judge his emotion or reaction from the stiff robot face. But the way his ears twitched and his eyes dialed their irises seem to suggest he was swooning over Kassandra's kiss. "Oh sure he looks cute so he gets to have the first kiss." Charlie grumbled seeing the sight. "Your hostility towards them might be why she prioritizes alternative options." Leandros remarked nonchalantly without looking at Charlie, prompting him to huff out.

"Whatever, alright now, you know how to fire your gun. Now to the next part of your arsenal, the grenade." Charlie led the two towards another section of the firing range where the ground was cratered with boxes, walls and car wrecks scattered around. All of them had chars and bent sections suggesting an incredible force had deformed them completely. "This is the grenade range where you guys can learn how to toss Persephone's fruit at her face." Charlie sarcastically remarked.

Leandros then open a crate filled with fragmentation grenades all of which shaped like a ball with a pin to pull. The robot Lucario picked up one as demonstration as Charlie lecture them step by step. "First judge your throw distance, grenades fall in arcs so don't just throw it like a ball and assume it will work the same way." Leandros then held out his left paw to aim at the target in front of him which was a window around 15 meters away from him.

"Then pull the pin of the grenade and toss it into the target." Said Charlie and upon the prompt, Leandros pull the pin off of the grenade before tossing it into the window, the grenade exploded kicking up dirt and sand and some dust in the process. "See that? Once the pin is pulled, it's no longer your friend." Said Charlie as he handed Taiyou and Kassandra both grenades to practice.

"So basically like my Cherry Bombs," Taiyou mused.

Leandros nodded to Taiyou, "Affirmative, records show that your Cherry Bomb is the most likely comparison to our fragmentary grenades." Kassandra chuckled and remarked. "A stone that explodes with fire? How tenacious." As they then toss their grenades at targets as far as 20 meters away, Taiyou noticed that his grenade seem to spawn into 5 with the grenades falling around or into the target car and exploded.

"It appears your proficiency with certain weapons are altering their patterns of operation. Perhaps they have become modern extension of your Celestial Brush techniques." Leandros mused and stroke his smooth metal chin thinking about the way each of his standard issued weapons and equipment seem to have a different pattern of behaviors when being used by Taiyou. "Well that's interesting, at least the day is a bit more interesting with that going on." Said Charlie with a head scratch.

The day wore on with Taiyou and Kassandra being introduced and trained on how to operate their weapons and equipment. There were some slow moments as they learned the importance of cleaning, maintenance and trick shots with their weapons. But with their experiences in combat and Charlie's dedication to teaching them, they began to pick up the pieces and fit into their new environment more and more.

[hr]

Meanwhile far away in the Orient, Nippon was at peace with the people going about their lives without a hint of fear or concerns in the air. Ammy and Kaito were back in Kamiki enjoying the nostalgia of their first met when a portal appeared behind them, and out came the letter Taiyou wrote on the Papyrus paper dropping down on one of Kaito's tails. "Oh dear, I think there's something here." Said Kaito with an excited tone as he picked up the Papyrus letter and rolled it open for him and her to read.

"What does it say?" Ammy asked curiously, looking over his shoulder.

Reading the letter Kaito was half concerned and half relief seeing it seems to show that Taiyou was safe at least. "Dearest, it's from our son, he's fine at the moment and is now staying with Anubis… as an unofficial volunteer for the guy's private army. I'm glad he's safe but I'm a bit concerned since he's in an army of robots and war machines that Anubis make." Said Kaito scratching his head handing the letter to Ammy for her to read the content herself.

Dear Mom, Dad, Uncle Susano-O, and Uncle Tsukuyomi,

Sorry I sorta vanished for a while. I'm still alive and well, Kassandra being here too, and am currently with Anubis. Things are going on, and suffice to say I've unofficially volunteered to help with several things. We'll still be able to keep in touch, but until then we'll be staying here. Don't worry, we're in good hands.

Love, Taiyou.

P.S.

Go easy on Anubis, Uncle Susano-O and Tsukuyomi. He's not having it that easy either.

"...well...I can't say I'm surprised," Kaito couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Our kid really is a chronic hero. Just like his mother."

"You know he is dear." Ammy chuckled playfully to Kaito as the two held the letter in their hands. As the parents were more adequately satisfied with the safety of their child, her siblings however were a completely different story altogether.

When Ammy and Kaito went down to the village's proper, where Susano-O and Tsukuyomi were, she found Susano-O to once again be busy with practicing his blade while Tsukuyomi was writing Haiku and odes to the Moon.

"Everyone look, Taiyou has finally sent us a letter. He's doing well according to it but he'll be staying with Anubis for the time being to help him. We're so proud of him." Said Ammy with a warm cheerful smile on her face as she handed the letter to Susano and Tsukuyomi for them to read. "You know I'm not a fan of Anubis turning into a… machine deity but at least we know he'll take good care of our son." Kaito added confidently.

"Ammy, be reasonable I am not at all assured by this because our nephew is staying with… machines that imitate living beings. This is disturbing to say the least, he could have nightmares." Susano-O objected to her as he read the short letter written by his nephew, whether he pays attention to the PS section of it is up in the air. "That and Anubis suddenly returns after 2000 years of absence is highly suspicious, he could be having other women in his life by then. The infidelity is obvious." Tsukuyomi added with a huff.

"That we cannot say for sure," Ammy sighed. "But I trust Anubis, and no matter what, when it comes to problems that threaten the world, he will always fight against them."

"Like he's the only one." Susano-O sarcastically rebuked her. "The fact of the matter is that we defeated Orochi, Yami without any kinds of bodily enhancements or Anubis flashy metal armor grafted onto his body. Possibly permanently." Said Susano-O. But then his face grew pale along with Tsukuyomi as they had what could best be described as dawning horror expression on their stunted faces. "Oh no, what if Anubis does something to our nephew? What if he grafts those metal armor on Chibi permanently or even cut him up and force machines into his body?" Tsukuyomi gasped out in fear. Susano followed up with his own paranoid fueled guess, "Or even worse if Anubis gets carried away and prod Chibi's nogging with his weird machines? We have to protect him!" He declared out loud.

"I think you two are overthinking this…" Kaito sighed with a sweat drop. "But you have a point. If something serious is going on, we might want to get involved in this."

"Exactly! Which is why we'll go first to keep an eye on Chibi!" Susano declared out loud to Kaito and Ammy before the two ran into their home to pack their luggage and baggage for Egypt, much to Ammy and Kaito's dismays and their apparent helplessness to convince the two otherwise.

"Well...we should probably go with them. Make sure they don't do anything...stupid," Ammy sighed. She loved her brothers, but when they got hooked on something it was often...difficult...

"Don't I know it," Kaito chuckled awkwardly, remembering how hard it was to regain their trust after THAT incident. "Anyway, let's get packing," he mused.


	6. Chapter 6: Sweat for blood

Chapter 6: Sweat for blood

A week has passed since Taiyou and Kassandra became un-official volunteers of the Jackal Guards, the fact that they were pressed into service did not surprise them one bit. They were deities, battle hardened and have led some warrior bands themselves in the past. They were families to Anubis and were champion in combat. But this was much more different than what they've experienced in the past, in fact this would be their first time operating in coordination with a larger force. A full scale army in fact.

Adapt and overcome, as Taiyou would say, and adapted they have, Kassandra and Taiyou learned what they could with the robot wolves, each morning was a wake up to the klaxon, an exercise to warm up before a marathon around Lake Mareotis. Then followed by lessons like Basic Rifle Marksmanship where they practice firing their standard issue assault rifles at 40 targets.

Other lessons were demolition with handling of explosive charges and plastic explosives blocks that were like moldable clay. Then there was Weapon Familiarization process for them to know grenade launchers, squad automatic weapon along with machine guns. A week alone wasn't enough to teach them everything, but they learned much and related to experiences they have had.

Taiyou and Kassandra were now in a bit of a lull before the next day of training, the dusk was their moment of freedom from the daily grind of training and repetitive activities to help meld their lessons into their muscle memories. Back in the hangar with Charlie and Leandros, the married couple were for the moment allowed to be out of their uniforms while Leandros and Charlie were seen tending to the various things around the hangar to keep up its maintenance.

Charlie was working by the weapon station assembling parts of a grenade launcher and its trigger ground. He then mounted the grenade launcher to Taiyou's standard issue Storm Rider assault rifle, once he was done, he held up the rifle in his hand to feel the weight of the weapon. As a robot Charlie didn't feel the burden of weight affecting him much if at all. But once in Taiyou's hand it would be a significant factor to consider.

"Alright Taiyou, I got a present for ya. I think this would fit you well." Charlie then went over to Taiyou, handing him the Storm Rider assault rifle with the attached grenade launcher. "Careful alright, it's a bit heavy from the grenade launcher attachment." Charlie gently let go of the weapon as Taiyou began to hold it in his hands feeling the metal weight bearing down his hands. Charlie then looked over to Leandros curiously noticing the robot Lucario was sitting with his legs curled up on a set of crates with a military tablet in his hands.

"Hey uh Leandros, can you uh help explain to me something about how Taiyou uses his Brush techniques?" Charlie asked Leandros, to which the robot Lucario looked up and replied dryly. "Taiyou is recorded to use his Brush Techniques using his tail as a calligraphy brush dipped into Celestial ink. In the recorded cases of my deployment with him, he can apparently manifests his Brush Techniques in weapons, gadgets and equipment where they can." Said Leandros as he explained to Charlie, which left him scratching his chrome forehead in curiosity. "Like how exactly does that work?" Charlie asked glancing back and forth at Taiyou and Leandros.

The robot Lucario then projected a holographic map from his military tablet showing them a topographical 3D rendering of the Fort and the surrounding areas of Alexandria. "Taiyou, would you please use your Guidance Brush technique on the holographic map?"

"Right," Taiyou nodded, before the world froze, turning into parchment to which he used the Celestial Brush as asked, and reverted the world to normal.

After the Celestial Ink was applied, Charlie and Leandros both saw a black ink train on their HUDs guiding them from the hangar towards the nearby patches of vegetation, the path ran through the base following the footpaths and paved roads around it making the guidance towards the destination the safest possible route. "Whoa, he can do that? But I thought that god powers don't interact much with techs at all." Charlie gasped stunted seeing this while Leandros casually pinched and pulled the map to zoom in and rotate it around examining how the Celestial Brush techniques seem to have worked the way it did.

"It seems the Brush technique leads us towards our destination without exiting the safe areas and avoided areas considered potentially dangerous. I cannot compute the possibilities or likelihood of troubles in these friendly zones but assume that it is correct." Leandros explained before giving Taiyou and Kassandra a look at his digital map.

Kassandra in turn took a moment to examine the waypoint drawn by Celestial Ink and was apparently awed and amazed by how the celestial and divine magical power able to manifest in technological gadgets. "Incredible." She uttered. "The map itself is brilliant, the terrain features are all there to take notice, there are even mounds, hills and elevations to keep track of instead of just a bareboned map of the usual cartographer." Said Kassandra as she seem to pay more attention to how accurate the geographical features of Leandros digital.

"Considering the effort put into making this, I think it'd be strange otherwise," Taiyou chuckled.

"So uh Taiyou… your parents area goddess and a demon? That's… Romeo and Juliet like." Said Charlie with a bit of a commentary as he asked Taiyou of his family background while sitting down on the floor next to Leandros. "Definition: Forbidden love." Leandros added to help clarify to Taiyou about possible confusion. "As far as I am told, lady Amaterasu and her brothers are the main guardians of Nippon from evil." the robot Lucario stated blankly as he pulled up a holographic screen of depictions of Ammy and her siblings fighting the evil Yami in their final battle. "Her siblings opinion regarding me however… is less than friendly."

"To be fair, they haven't had the best experience with machines," Taiyou sighed. "As for my parents, it was something like that I guess… at any rate, just give them time."

Charlie nodded to him slowly and scratched the back of his head hearing this. "Yeah I guess so. Your uncles seem to have hold special animosity for me, something along the lines of child out of wedlock." He stated awkwardly to Taiyou, "Oh fear not. Whatever happened, it's in the past. At least you have a bigger family now, all of whom are deities." Said Kassandra as she patted Charlie's shoulder.

"Yeah, at least that's a good thing I guess. Good night guys, tomorrow is going to be our test." He bid them before turning in with Leandros on their double deck bed with the robot Lucario sleeping on the top while Charlie slept on the bottom bed. Taiyou and Kassandra were sleeping nearby on a mattress big enough for two.

[hr]

As the next day came, so too their challenge, they were expected to work together as a team with much riding on their shoulders. Taiyou, Kassandra, Charlie and Leandros were sitting on the back of a Roc Eagle as it flapped its wings, flying across the land. The eagle was carrying them across the Nile Delta towards the marshland south of Herakleion city where their exercise will take place.

The bird then landed by an opening in the densely vegetated marshland of the Nile Delta, letting them disembarked and walk freely. Once the quartet were off of the eagle's back, the bird flapped its wings and flew away back to its nest somewhere beyond the horizon. Charlie and Leandros made a quick survey of their surroundings before Charlie gestured them to form up by a bush and let Leandros brief them on their specific objectives.

Leandros himself crouched down and cradled the military grade tablet on his lap and then used its projector len to project a 3D topographical map of the region. It showed the quartet marked with four blue diamond shaped symbols, their objectives marked with a red crosshair symbol on the other side of several small isles on the Nile.

"Alright we're here, our objective is a village around 600 meters southwest of here." Charlie began, using a stylus pen to mark their locations and that of the village they were supposed to raid. "Our job is to eradicate any enemy combatants in that village. Leandros and I will take care of any grunts we see, there are also imps, cyber demons and the likes in the village with some statues, idols they use to poison the land. So we'll leave that to you to handle." Said Charlie as he circled the village using the stylus pen to help Taiyou understand what they were about to do.

"Right," Taiyou nodded. "One question though...since when were cyber demons a thing?"

"That IS a rather odd development," Kassandra agreed with a sigh.

Leandros used his tablet to project a holographic archive photo of a cyber demon sighted in the Levants during his previous deployment. These appear to look like humanoid beings, only taller, much more muscular but the macabre deformity were quite telling. An unholy marriage between machinery, cybernetic components grafted on their bodies with their legs and arms being amputated in favor of cybernetic prosthetics.

Their torsos were coated in dense metal plates with bits of flesh being exposed and their heads having cybernetic implants on their eyes to augment their sights. "First sighted in the Levants roughly a year ago. These cyber demons represent the latest in merging mortal technology with occult practices and beings. Noted to have incredible endurance to most mortal weapons but are still vulnerable to exorcism."

"In short, they're basically a LOT stronger than the usual demon variety," Taiyou frowned. "The technology angle...how do we use it to our advantage?"

"We improvise. We see them first, we hit them first." Said Charlie as he stood up with Leandros putting his tablet back into his backpack. To both Taiyou and Kassandra's surprise, they saw something emerging from Leandros backpack, it appeared to be a sleek and angular eagle, a robot eagle apparently with missiles mounted on its wings. It chirped out a metallic sound before standing on Leandros shoulder.

"I'll let Senu here take off and scout the area. If it sees anything, enemy targets will be relayed to our HUDs." Leandros then gestured for Senu to take off, with the bird flying into the air, flapping its wings and spreading its metallic feathers out as it glided into the air. The robot raptor soar high into the sky, flapping its wings with gentle grace as the bird began to prowl over the target area.

On the ground, the quartet were moving closer, wading through the marshy swamp water of the Nile teaming with crocodiles and hippos fighting one another. On dry land around the target village, they saw hyenas, lions and crocs along with deer and antelopes, pronks and oryx ran around. Surveillance footage streamed to them from the robot eagle presented on a holographic screen projected from Leandros left wrist. They saw a small village with the goal being on the top mound of the village where the corrupting agent stone fountain can be found.

Around the village were various wandering cyber demons and cyber imps looking like grotesque corpses being ripped out and having prosthetic arms and legs hastily grafted onto their bodies with their movement poses appear rather stiff, unnatural. Some were fragile and flimsy, others were slow lumbering foes. "Those are the problems, take them out first and we will be able to sly through." Said Leandros while showing them the footage.

"I see...yes they certainly seem like something we'd want to deal with quickly," Taiyou frowned. "How aware or receptive are they? Possible to sneak up on them perhaps?"

"Well they can't seem to strike at you with grace. They can dish it out but can't take a hit back. Just go from behind and hit their spinal cord and you win hands down." Charlie remarked as he then slide down a mound towards the village's edge.

"Good to know we can take them out easily enough," Kassandra nodded.

"Yeah. Just don't ask me personally how did we find them." Charlie retorted as he began to comb the ground in front of them for possible landmines that might give away their approaches. He pulled out a knife from his thigh compartment and poke into the dirt, sinking the blade deep into the ground before inching forward slowly. He soon found some landmines and dug them up before setting aside a path for Kassandra. "Ladies first." He cockily smirks at her face while standing aside in a manner similar to Kaito.

"Such a gentleman," she said in amusement before taking the offered path.

Once Kassandra passed through the cleared path, Charlie followed behind with Leandros and Taiyou as they entered the village unseen. Once they were inside however, the cyber demons and imps began to run for cover or leap for rooftops and began to run towards them. Some cyber imps appeared to have shoulder mounted cannons with articulated arms to elevate the cannons up and down with a body swollen to skinny skeletal figure.

They fired what appeared to be training shots at Taiyou and Kassandra, lobbing orange shots simulating flames. The two immediately evaded, calling their weapons to their hands, Taiyou slicing at several with his Solar Sentinel sword, while in Kassandra's hands appeared what appeared to be a spear, but with some kind of bundle wrapped around it, which she used in a sweeping motion, knocking several away, while stabbing a few more with the tip.

The cyber demons were quickly dispatched with the battle couple leading the charge, followed by Charlie and Leandros following them from behind blazing through the thick layer of purple mist and fog. Charlie and Leandros of course have to tag team against a single Cyber demon who appeared to have a humanoid like appearance with their legs amputated and replaced by prosthetics.

These towering cyber demons bum rush Charlie only to see him slide down between their legs and stood up behind them and let loose a hail of lead from his Storm Rider rifle. With them being peppered by bullets on their back, the demon dropped dead instantly leaving Charlie to freely go ahead. Leandros then swung his feet making a spin kick into the face of one imp sending it into the wall before finishing it off with his palm mounted plasma cannon.

"Rally to me!" Kassandra called out, her voice rang like an angel's song to the ears of Charlie and Leandros, prompting the two robots to sprint over towards her where she planted her flag bearing spear. They however found themselves at the heart of the town where most of the enemies are concentrated with the objectives being just behind the wall of enemy cyber demons and imps. "Great, rally to you and we're surrounded by the baddies. What now?" Charlie asked Kassandra sarcastically with a grumble. "Well excuse me for not taking into account your cowardice." She spat back at Charlie.

"Easy now dear," Taiyou chided. "Don't worry, we've got these, especially with Kassandra's help," Taiyou said, before the world stopped for a moment, and when it resumed...several of the Cyber Demons fell to the ground, cut in half by a small barrage of Power Slashes, cutting them apart, greatly thinning the herd.

"Well that takes care of the herd, cover me I'm going for the objective! Rule #1: Mission goes first!" Charlie shouted out loud as he make a mad dash across the street with a satchel charge in his hands. He slid down towards the stone totem that bellowed out demonic air from its Oni mouth. Charlie attached the satchel charge to the back of the statue and hastily ran off after priming the charge. "Fire in the hole!" He howled out and the explosives detonated, blowing up the cluster of totems.

With the destruction of the Totems the other Cyber Demons began to waver and rout, Leandros quickly crouched down and took potshots at fleeing enemies in the back, gunning down more simulated Cyber Demons as they ran away with the enemies being holographic images slowly disintegrating after being shot by their training rounds.

Once the last of the Cyber Demons and Imps ran out towards the edge of the training area only to disintegrated into the air leaving behind various seeds like gems on the ground being the source of the 3D projection. With the exercise concluded they saw an avian figure flying overhead of the village, this avian they recognized right away from his silhouette to be Horus the God of the Sky, Crown prince of Egypt and brother to Anubis.

Taiyou however noticed that Horus appeared to have more angular and sleek appearance, metallic shine with jet black armor with golden highlights and panel lines on his body. His wings appeared to be made of metal feather like a Stymphalian Eagle as he flew towards them. Horus slowed down his speed before flapped his wings forward to create opposite wind and landed on the ground. "Ah kids! I'm so glad to meet all of you again! I've missed you so much!" Horus excitedly hugged the four of them in a jubilant and exciting manner lifting them up effortlessly.

"I see you're doing well, Horus," Taiyou gasped, as Horus as a machine...a lot of extra strength.

"I admit I wasn't expecting you to be on this bandwagon as well," Kassandra commented...a little strained.

"You're crushing us…" Charlie coughed out exasperating before Horus let them go and allow them room to breath before pulling up a pencil and a proctor list of examination details. "Well calling it bandwagon wouldn't be accurate. When I was introduced to this idea by Anubis, I felt that I probably have to… shall we say… adapt and overcome then improvise." He smirked confidently to them before going around inspecting their performances and marking off check list details.

"Hmmm excellent minefield navigation by Charlie. +10 for all of you." He then went off to check the accuracy on the enemies by gathering the seeds into his hand. When the seed projected the data to his optics, Horus then noted them down and jotted down on the piece of paper clipped to the proctor's wooden board. "I spy with my missing eye a word starts with the letter I. Impressive." He quipped before jotted down the comment on the combat performance for Taiyou and Kassandra slaying various enemies and give them all an extra 50 points.

"Destruction of objective confirmed. Excellent." Said Horus with a smirk and bobbed his head approvingly before adding another 30 points to their performance. "Now for the bad news." He sighed out before pointing at Charlie. "I hate to say this but I have to be honest, you still need improvement on teamworks. Head butting with your teammates won't save your life out there." Said Horus with a stern scold as Charlie sigh out. "Well Kassandra and I weren't exactly match made in heaven to begin with." He defended.

"That's no excuse." Horus retorted before pausing. "Charlie you are my nephew, I love you and would spoil you so hard that your father would want you back. But I love you so therefore I have to make you better for your own well being once you're out there." Said Horus with thick gulp as he then finalized his reports and whistled to the robot bird on Leandros shoulder.

The bird flew over to Horus's wrist and allowed him to insert the written report into its chest compartment. "Deliver this to my brother, same place and time." He instructed the bird and it nodded to him before he let the robot flew away. "So who here is up for a party at my house in Alexandria?" He asked invitingly with a charming smile to them all.

"Sounds like fun, we'd like that," Taiyou smiled. "Right, dear?"

"I have no objections. It HAS been quite some time since we last met," Kassandra nodded with a small smile.

"Well I guess I could spend some family time with Horus. Since you're my uncle." Said Charlie in a sheepish tone only to have Horus hugged him tenderly and gave his head and that of Leandros a noogie. "The only thing I ever wanted is to hear you call me uncle." Horus then pecked his beak on Charlie and Leandros heads giving them both loving kisses. "Come on then, Anubis is going to be there as well. It's a bit of a private party but there's more guests than you though. Just don't mind if some are robots." Said Horus with a shrug.

"Still a little unsure with all the robots...and what you all chose to do, but getting over it," Taiyou shrugged, he felt it was better to be honest about it all.

[hr]

As the sun went down on the West in Alexandria, Anubis was by the balcony looking Eastward towards the Hippodrome and Herakleion when Senu flew to the balcony and perched on the balcony's wooden fence while dispensing the report to Anubis. He took the report and read its details carefully before rolling it up and sighed out. "He still has a lot to learn." Said Anubis.

He soon saw in the sky a ghostly mirror image of Horus flying over the garden before a halo of light formed in the middle of the courtyard. Soon enough, Horus was seen landing in a graceful manner with the quartet of Taiyou, Kassandra, Charlie and Leandros accompanying him thanks to his 'To the skies' ultimate ability. "Brother! How are you doing? Taking a break from work for family at least make you feel better yet?" Horus called out eagerly to Anubis who nodded to him before vaulting over the balcony and landed on his feet. "Certainly is. How was your day son?"

Charlie smirked when he felt Anubis paw rubbing his forehead and replied casually. "Peachy I guess. There isn't anything much besides training and all. But hey I can at least get to know my step-brother." Said Charlie with a smile followed by Leandros nodding to Anubis, "The activities have been… dull. Breaking the monotony is required."

"That's why we're here! Now then let's see… hmm." Horus then began to make a headcount of the guests available at his mansion before counting others he intended before realizing. "Wait I still have some guests missing."

"Oh? Who is still missing?" Kassandra asked.

"Some Hellenic friends of mine my dear." Just as he finished, he heard knocking on the door and he went out to open it. "I'm coming." Sad Horus as he came out and open the wooden doors of the mansion, he saw an anthro robot eagle standing in the doorway. Like Horus this eagle was jet black but unlike Horus, this eagle appeared to have a set of blue lighting style highlights and panel lines on his body.

His muscular build and body appeared to resemble a leotard with briefs on his crotch tied together by the utility belt he had. The eagle and Horus smiled to one another and proceeded to hug each other almost instantly. "Alexios! How have you been you big beefy lover boy?" Horus asked teasingly in a carefree manner.

The other robot avian demonstrated his Hellenic muscle and strength by effortlessly lifting Horus up from the ground. "Same as always you goofy Egyptian lover boy. Still hounding the throne?" He kissed Horus on the cheeks, prompting Horus to kiss him back in the same way.

"I'm inching a lot closer to the throne now thank you very much. How are the Avengers for you?" The two then made an arm wrestling high five with their muscles flexed under the armor plates. "The finest avian warriors I've ever seen, they offer either the finest rumps a lover can ask for or the best killing blow any foe could have desired." Said Alexios with a cocky grin on his beak.

"Alexios?" Taiyou and Kassandra blinked in surprise, not expecting to see him here.

"Oh is that the prince of the sun and his Spartan wife?" Alexios asked noticing the two before shaking Taiyou's hand and kissed Kassandra's hand gently with a playful cocky grin. "I hope for your sake, you're single." Said Kassandra with a shrug and grimace.

"Married? Me? Never. Well I could be if you count Horus." They then burst out laughing hysterically with Horus and Alexios patting each other's backs before pulling one another in for a passionate kiss on their lips. "Well… Horus did tell me that he and Alexios have been hanging out a lot lately." Said Anubis in a nonchalant tone.

"I...see?" Kassandra blinked.

"Well...if they invited you I guess it's alright. Just don't tell me Zeus is here too," Taiyou frowned. He did NOT have fond memories of the leader of the Greek Pantheon...actually he didn't have fond memories of most of that Pantheon save a few.

"Zeus? No he isn't. He's been dead for 2000 years now." Said Alexios with a grim tone and a depressing sigh. "Assassinated by Loki. Horus has been there for me those time. Olympus though hasn't been the same." He shrugged before letting Horus hugged him tenderly from behind and he took the time to embrace Horus back.

"What good is a warrior without a master to serve or united kingdom to protect? So I went here, pledged my allegiance to the Royal Court, named Commander of the Avengers by Horus." Said Alexios with a warm smile on his robot beak as he and Horus stepped aside, letting a final guest to come into the mansion.

This one however caught Charlie off guard, he gasped in utter shock and surprise. An anthro robot wolf like Charlie but this one appeared to have amber tinted LED optics, crimson red armor plates with black synthetic flesh and muscles underneath the metal plates with a speedo like crotch plate similar to Charlie.

"Charlie! Is that you? Where have you been? I mean like I miss you, heck, my entire family misses you, man!" the robot wolf cried out in a heartfelt whimper before running over to tackle Charlie to the ground and hugged him tight. "Agh! Easy Logan, my uncle nearly crushed me earlier today already." Said Charlie with an excited pant as he received Logan.

"And this is…?" Kassandra asked, while Taiyou looked just as confused by the new arrival.

"Oh this is Logan. Logan Lupis, a friend of mine in Zootopia." Charlie smiled sheepishly as he stood up with Logan and introduced him to the married couple. "Logan, this is Taiyou and Kassandra," Logan took Kassandra's hand and shook it with caution but the moment he shook Taiyou's hand his eyes turned into a twinge and frown. "Uh who are you and what's with the red face painting weirdo job?" He asked bluntly.

"They're birthmarks, even if they DO look like paint," Taiyou chuckled. Not the FIRST time he'd been called that...and it took him a lot longer than he'd like to FINALLY get Nanami to stop calling him 'Squiddy'.

"Ugh, birthmark? Yeah sure like mine looks like the Big Dipper. Seriously I come to this world expecting gods and shits, but running into you? You're Charlie's step-brother? Oh great now it's rubbing into my face now that I'm obsolete as Charlie's bro." Logan huffed out impatiently before taking a step back from Taiyou and Kassandra and standing protectively in front of Charlie.

"Uh he doesn't mean that. What he's trying to say is he's suffering PTSD after the incident of being kidnapped, raped and roboticized by a villainous A.I at the same time. Honest!" Charlie took a step up in front of them defending Logan before Taiyou and Kassandra while the actual deities and Leandros stood on the sideline nervously. "My calculations predict a violent clash may happen soon." Leandros commented dryly. "I hope that your calculation is wrong for today." Said Horus.

The couple seemed...more than a little stunned at the outburst, both of them glaring a bit for a moment...before they calmed down. "I see…" Taiyou mused.

"Well then if we're not welcomed we'll be on this side of the room," Kassandra said simply, to which the couple turned and went to one section of the room, keeping well away from Logan.

Charlie stood up before Logan apparently mad at him as they argued amongst one another. "What are you doing? I just met them a week ago but you're just making it worse. I'm supposed to get along with my new family not pick a fight with them!" Charlie gritted his teeth frustratingly and in his frustration Taiyou and Kassandra notice the granite stone wall of Horus mansion seem to develop ice and frost with liquid nitrogen air leaking out.

"I'm sorry man, but do you know how it feels for me and my folks for not seeing you for a while? It's hard enough for them to live with two members of their family got kidnapped and roboticized by a psycho bitch already. Explaining to them that Anubis adopted you and took you to his home of the gods? They're gonna lose their shit!" Logan flabbergasted in his signature style and mannerism as he attempted to excuse and defend himself. Logan however saw Charlie pinched his ear and yanked it hard. "You will go over there and apologize to them this instance. He's my step-brother and and he's from Japan for crying out loud!" Charlie grumbled to Logan, upon hearing that Taiyou was from Nippon, he gasped out in fear of being punished by some bizarre manner.

The crimson robot wolf then quickly knelt down and bowed before Taiyou pleading and desperately begging for mercy and forgiveness. "Please step-bro of Charlie don't incinerate me or lock me in hentai dungeon or something! I didn't mean you disrespect on purpose, I was freaking out after being away from Charlie for so long! Please have mercy so my folks won't have any hardships suddenly fall on them." Said Logan as he pleaded to Taiyou.

"...what?" Taiyou asked dryly. "What kind of god do you think I am to incinerate someone over something as minor, if annoying, as that? And what the heck do you mean by hentai dungeon? I'm a lot of things, but that's just sick."

Charlie needless to say facepalmed himself upon hearing Logan plead and groaned. "This is why Anubis didn't want to bring you here."

[hr]

After some initial confusion, Logan and Charlie were seated at the dinner table with Taiyou and Kassandra. Anubis sat to the right of Horus who sat at the host position of the party with Alexios to his left. Charlie was next to Logan, who sat next to Anubis while Taiyou and Kassandra were next to Alexios. The table was filled with goblets of fine Dionysus grape wine with plates of roasted chicken with salad and mayonnaise dressing.

Another plate had the Egyptian delicacy of beefsteaks and buttered corn. Logan was having a hard time containing himself as he sniff the beefsteak before having his irises dialed to even larger sizes when he realized it was real meat. "Wait they eat actual meat here? As in you guys don't have problems with eating… other mammals?" Logan asked apparently terrified at the prospect.

"It's only an issue when the animals are sentient," Kassandra said simply. "As long as it isn't sentient, there are no issues. In short, we eat only feral animals."

"If we didn't it'd be a lot more difficult for carnivores to get their dietary needs," Taiyou agreed.

"Everyone from where I come from are anthro so we are vegetarian preds. But wait… why do I feel something… tingling? Like I want that meat." Logan's lips puckered up as he struggled to keep his posture professional and contain his own desire to eat actual meat. Horus sitting at the host position then welcomed them to enjoy his hospitality with a toast of wine goblet. "I, Horus the Avengers, crown prince of Egypt, welcome you all to my home in celebration of great news. In a few months from now, Ra will hand the throne to me!" He declared with a proud glee on his face.

"So in my future reign I shall bless you all with my patronage and divine protection, be it friends or foes! A toast to a glorious future!" Horus boasted and prompting them all to raise their glasses to drink the wine. Logan himself drunk the Dionysus wine but with a more cautious manner as he was drinking ancient world wine for once and it felt oddly doozy and quite powerful kick.

Taiyou drank slowly, enjoying the flavor, but maintained a steady pace so as to avoid getting overwhelmed. Likewise, Kassandra did the same, though she was able to enjoy it at a faster pace, as she had a bit of a better tolerance for alcohol compared to her husband, evident by how she drained her cup faster than he did.

Anubis, Horus and Alexios of course had no problems with drinking as these deities had been exposed to wine for many years. When they started dining and conversing, Logan was given a slice of Horus's beefsteak and he was conflicted upon seeing it as he had never tasted flesh before. Artificial meat derived from stem cells perhaps, but never feral meat from natural bovines. "Oh my Goat, I'm gonna eat meat. Please don't punish me Goat." Logan thought to himself shaking in fear and nervousness as he picked up the utensils.

The crimson robot wolf cautiously cut out a slice of bovine meat before eating it, he suddenly felt himself ascended, lifted to the heavens in fact as his mind drifted to the sky while he began to chew the piece of meat slowly in his mouth. The taste, the dressing, the sweetness of honey and oily mayonnaise made him wanting more as he began to enjoy himself naturally. "Ho God, I never tasted real meat before. This is intense! This is heavenly!" He exclaimed happily.

"I can imagine it'd be different than what you're used to. From what little I know, the world you came from doesn't HAVE any feral animals, and that...leads to its own issues," Taiyou chuckled lightly.

"Don't touch the dynamite dear." Kassandra snarked to Taiyou's ear while Charlie nervously chuckled trying to put up a front of looking like he was enjoying the party. Alexios was talking to Horus and Anubis however with a bit of an interesting look on his face seemingly on to something important. "You know the news of Zeus been dead for 2000 years? Now somebody is saying he's back on Olympus. Back but not for the better." The eagle said cautiously to Anubis and Horus nodded concurring with him. "Yes Alexios said it himself. The King of Olympus is apparently… more loony now than before."

"I'm more interested in the coming back part." Anubis remarked cautiously to Alexios who nodded in response. "Who wouldn't?" He asked rhetorically while eating some corns on his plate. "He suddenly burst into the throne room the other day, Hera was shocked he appeared mechanical. First a floating shield then his body transformed out of it before he stood there in front of her boasting 'I have returned to rule Olympus as SkyTech Zeus!'" Alexios made an exaggerated mocking version of Zeus voice before showing them a holographic photo he took of the now robot Zeus, prompting Anubis to stroke his chin nervously.

"A god returning as a machine? Isn't that too much like what happened with Thanatos and Medusa?" Taiyou frowned.

"I heard there have been dead deities… well not so dead to begin with." Charlie added as he chew a piece of chicken in his mouth. "Thanatos, Medusa, now Zeus. I heard they even snatched up Arachne a volunteer for sure with Nyx. I get the whole robot thing isn't what people considered something enjoyable. With how it was introduced, I figured I need to catch up and adapt to prevent them from overpowering us out of the blue." Said Anubis with a cautious tone as he examined the image of the SkyTech Zeus, seeing the Aegis shield on his left arm bearing the image of a gorgon's head in tron lines and electric zaps.

His head appeared to have three visor lines with blue optical color. There wasn't any mouth on his face as it was featureless compared to Anubis and Horus more detailed face. His body also was noticeably much more mechanical in appearance with various parts seemingly full on armor or machinery instead of Anubis bio-mechanical synth appearance and aesthetic. "Forensic of the image suggest that an unknown third party has in fact engineered this new chassis to house Zeus's soul." Leandros mused analytically while sitting next to Kassandra.

"I know it's possible to capture a god's soul after they die. Gods don't pass on the same way mortals do, and with the right preparations, they can be revived…" Kassandra frowned, involuntarily looking at Taiyou. "But...to think someone would capture a soul and put it inside of a metal chassis...how long have they been in possession of Zeus's soul?"

"Good question. I'd say for as long as Hades has been reigning the Underworld of Hellas. Heck in fact he was in on the plot to assassinate Zeus and Odin that kicked off the Latin-Hellenic War." Horus huffed out still recalling memories of 2000 years ago. Anubis nodded and Alexios was reasonably disappointed to say the least having already learned of the uncomfortable fact a long time ago.

"That and he has been missing for years. Respectful of Anubis he maybe, let's not forget he was the one actively leading the Hellenic section of the plot, Loki was leading the Norse section. We were just lucky to barely survive it." Alexios noted to them.

"And they were able to get away with this?" Taiyou frowned. "Or were they defeated as well? If yes, then what became of their souls?"

"Well… they got away with it. We never recovered anything. No leads, no nothing. That's what I'm worried about." Anubis replied to them with a sigh. "I'm worried that they may come back sometime soon. The recent attempt on your life confirms it. That and the recent resurface of Eclipse suggest they are going big this time."

"They're turning fallen gods into machines to do their bidding. Big doesn't even begin to describe this," Kassandra frowned. "Do you have any idea at all where they might be operating from? This is not something that should be allowed to go on for longer than necessary."

"That's the hard part. We have a hard time penetrating their communication network to actually pinpoint their locations. They know we can tap in and listen, so they use a lot of euphemisms and change their codebook everyday. Hard to predict where, when, who and how." Said Horus with a disappointed sigh, they heard a more drunken Logan chimed in and hiccup.

"Yeah, take me for example. Some crazy alien robot A.I bitch kidnapped, raped and roboticized me for the fun of it. So she can make me her groom in some shotgun wedding." He hiccup and his synthesized voice sound grainy and static.

"Okay...what?" Taiyou blinked. That was...pretty out there, as far as stories they'd heard went. "I think we need a bit of context to that…"

"Alright y'all." Logan hiccuped and stuttered trying to stay sober to tell his tale to them all as it reminded Taiyou of Issun when the envoy was drunk. "So I was the rookie cop of ZPD, then on my first day, I was kidnapped by some weird alien A.I orb. It then raped me in some evil lair and turned me into a robot against my will. Then…" He coughed out trying to stay sober but now was falling around with his fingers pointing at Charlie.

"Then this Ice Wolf shows up to rescue me… just in time… before that A.I cook my brains. We've been pals ever since." He flailed around before falling over and unconscious on the floor from the wine, causing Anubis to excused himself from the table and dragged Logan off to a lounge bench by the balcony to let him rest. "That was basically what happened in a nutshell. You probably saw her right? The Naga robot lady, that's her, the A.I that I thought I destroyed." Said Charlie with a grimace on his face.

"Then we'd better stop her before she causes more problems here," Kassandra frowned.

"Affirmative, it is speculated that she enjoys the misery derided from her captives and possibly intent to turn Charlie, Logan, Earl Lupis the uncle of Logan into her submissive robot pets." Leandros speculated and mused with Charlie cringed hearing about it as he knew what painful memory they went through with the Baroness before. As they were sitting there and dining however, Anubis heard some knocking sound on the door.

Curious as to who would be coming to the private dinner party, he came by to open the door assuming Set. But as he opened the door, he found a familiar face in the doorway, Ammy and Kaito were standing there with their noble outfits on. Kaito wore a black robe with white lotus like patterns while Ammy wore a tan white and red Kimono. "Ammy? Kaito? What are you two doing here? Come in." Anubis exclaimed in surprise as he welcomed them in.

"Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing here?" Taiyou asked in surprise when he saw his parents.

Ammy warmly smiled at Taiyou and kissed his cheeks followed by his father hugging him. "We received your letter dear." Ammy started as she showed him the letter he sent them. "But your uncles… well…" Taiyou chuckled nervously as Susano-O and Tsukuyomi came into the mansion and were quick to shoot their glares at Anubis face as they came to flank Taiyou in a protective manner. "Well they got the letter too but… not in the good manner." Said Kaito as he nervously smiled and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh how amusing… you all come to visit. I'm thrilled." Anubis grumbled sarcastically as they maintained their glare at him with intense hostility while Horus in the dining room stood up and went out to intervene with Alexios. "Look it's nice to see you and Kaito again after all these years." The Crown prince hugged and kissed them both as they were his brother and sister in law. "But can you two please leave Anubis alone? He isn't your boogeyman." Said Horus with a glare shot back at Susano-O and Tsukuyomi.

"Considering he vanishes without a word for centuries, I think it's in our right to be cautious," Tsukuyomi said curtly.

"Come on Uncle Susano-O, Uncle Tsukuyomi, lay off on Anubis," Taiyou sighed. "He had his reasons, and he's back now. Can't that be all that matters?"

Tsukuyomi and Susano-O of course were less than pleased to see Anubis and Horus were now robots, Alexios made them even less assured and when they saw Leandros and Charlie passing by carrying the dishes around made them feel their nerves twitched and frowned. "Alright nephew, we'll lay it off on Anubis. But has he experimented on you? Did he try turning you into a machine like him?" Susano asked condescendingly to Taiyou making Anubis and Horus facepalmed and cringed.

Not wanting to leave Ammy and Kaito awkwardly hanging, Charlie came by the parents and asked them shyly. "Can I show you guys to the dining room? Or maybe your room while staying here? We'll be having a pool party soon." Charlie asked Ammy and Kaito with Leandros standing next to him to assist if there ever was any need.

"That would be greatly appreciated," Ammy said with a kind smile. "You are…? I don't recall seeing you before."

"I'm Charlie, we've met back in Nippon." He introduced himself before Leandros followed up. "Leandros, Anubis's personal second in command. De facto younger brother to Charlie." The robot Lucario replied dryly to Ammy and Kaito. The two would notice that Leandros had oddly dreadlock like bundle behind his head while Charlie seem to radiate a strange aura of icy frost and cold. Almost like he came from Kamui.

"Well then, it's nice to see ya again. Thank you for the help, and please keep taking care of our son and daughter-in-law," Kaito said with a chuckle.

"Well we sure will. Seeing that Taiyou is my step-brother." Said Charlie who then hastily shut his mouth with a hand while Leandros remained a stilted deadpan robot who then added in. "Affirmative, as Taiyou is step-brother to Charlie, it is our duty to take care of family members. Charlie is still learning to fit in." Leandros statement only further stunted both Kaito and Ammy as the two did not expect to hear as Ammy and Kaito looked over to Anubis and Horus, only to have Anubis confirmed Charlie's status in a matter of fact tone. "That's right, he is my son. He's yours now as well Ammy but it's hard for me to help him adjust to this world." Said Anubis.

"...okay, I can sense there is a LONG story behind this," Ammy sighed. "You are going to explain this to us later. But for now...mind if we join this little party?"

"Food around here's always a nice change of pace, not that food in Nippon is bad," Kaito added with a joking chuckle.

Anubis nodded followed by Horus being his jubilant self quickly led them to the dining room with still some food for them all to enjoy. "Excuse the amount of food, we've been dining before you guys come. The kids are setting up the pool for us and believe me it'll be a great time for them and us." Horus assured her while the servants in the house brought in some additional bread and meat and curry for them. There were also plates of curry rice and beef for Ammy and Kaito. Tsukuyomi and Susano were treated to the same meals as Horus and Anubis sat with them to accommodate the guests.

Meanwhile by the poolside, Taiyou, Charlie, Kassandra and Leandros were putting the candles and lit them up giving the night sky a warm atmosphere. Taiyou and Kassandra saw that Horus pool was a mid size pool with both sides decorated with statues of beautiful nyms holding up the arching roof. There were curtains hanging along with the vines of ivy entangling around the statues. The night sky shine the stars and constellations to Taiyou and Kassandra, they could see the constellations of the Celestial Brush Gods in the night sky while then out in the harbor of Alexandria, they spotted a peculiar cruise ship hanging by the dock.

"That ship...what is it?" Kassandra asked curiously.

"Oh that? That's the Tartarus. It used to be some fancy cruise ship in Zootopia. Before it got hauled over by Anubis. It was some crazy incident, wish you guys had seen it." Said Charlie with a shudder as he was not able to muster up the strength to discuss the event in detail. Leandros however seem to have a disconnect and simply lay out some highlights he was aware of.

"Tartarus Incident was a Class 1 massacre and terrorist event onboard the ship. The crew and passengers, all mammals were turned on by the automated and robot services of the Tartarus leaving all but a handful survivors. One of them is Earl Lupis, who was turned into a robot onboard the ship but survived the incident and rescued by Anubis." Charlie hearing Leandros listing out the details made a cough and groaned out.

"Yeah. I was there trying to help some survivors including uncle Earl and a coast guard lion escaped. That crazy A.I was pulling the string there and she made it cyber hell on the high seas." Said Charlie as he stared out to the Tartarus with what could best be described as a thousand yard stare. "I doubt he's your family." Kassandra whispered to Taiyou.

[hr]

As the youngsters were busy kicking off their party with Horus and the uncles distracted, Anubis was with Ammy behind the wall obstructing the pool and dining room. "Anubis, I believe there's something you owe me?" Ammy asked him gently but with a serious look expecting him to be on his best behavior to tell her the truth.

Anubis sighed out, he nodded to her but with his head still looking down in a guilty manner. "Yes I do… Charlie, he's my son from a mortal woman." He admitted with a croaked and sobbed slightly with his hand rubbing his temple. "A what?" Ammy asked almost like an outrage at the confirmation of her suspicion. "It's complicated okay? Look…" He sighed out holding a hand up to stay Ammy from taking rash action. "He had a hard life, the blood of deities flow in his veins and he's family to me. I made a promise and I intend to keep it."

Ammy sighed out too upon hearing this, knowing Anubis attitude towards promises and oathsworn there was little for her to oppose him on the grounds of principle. But she still felt somewhat betrayed by his sudden child out of wedlock. "But your child there, Charlie… you know who was famous and what happened to him don't you?" Ammy asked Anubis sternly but with concerns for his well being. "I know that. But I won't let that happen to me. Not now, not ever." Said Anubis with a confident voice before leading her out to the pool and enjoy the party with Horus.


	7. Chapter 7: Flesh and Metal

Chapter 7: Flesh and Metal

After a night of wild party at Horus's mansion Taiyou and Kassandra were finally led by Charlie and Anubis to the Tartarus cruise ship. They had to enter the docks via the Royal Palace that Taiyou had grown familiar with in his previous trip to Egypt. Once they're by the Kibotos Arsenal of the Royal Palace, they finally got to board the Tartarus starboard side with a dock stretching out to the Mediterranean Sea.

The two first came up to the ship's bowl where they noticed that the vessel now had an auto cannon to defend itself with several rows of vertical launched missile tubes possibly for cruise missiles. The moment they stepped inside the ship they found that the interior still had an air of luxury that the old cruise ship had despite the numerous changes and renovations.

They were walking through the front of the ship through the areas such as a newly grown holy groves in what was once the green park of the ship with the areas below being a rather lively main streets and shopping center now converted into a general training and living deck for the robots with gunsmiths, firing range, assault course to keep them sharp. Charlie and Anubis eventually led Taiyou and Kassandra to the factory built into the ship that now grew to accommodate two whole lower decks of the ship.

Once there, Taiyou and Kassandra went to the nearby reinforced steel double doors with Anubis guiding them in every step of the way. Once the double doors slide open leading them inside, the couple saw that the interior of the factory was a well lit teal blue and emerald green set of hall ways with round cylindrical designs to help make use of observation, space and defense.

The one they were walking in right now saw various robot canines such as wolves and jackals, avians like falcons, eagles and hawks, and felines such as lions, tigers and leopards or jaguars working around the clock keeping the place operational with deliveries of cargo, stock inspection and quality control of materials imported. Aiding them were numerous drones shaped like scarabs flying around fetching boxes and crates to deliver them to their destinations.

"This way. Here you will see the crown jewel of our robot industry." Said Anubis as he arrived at a reinforced security door. There he inserted his hand into a cylindrical device that cuffed and locked his hand in.

The device appeared to have numerous talons like needles puncturing his armor plate and synthetic flesh, they seem to draw his blood out in small doses to scan for authenticity. But Taiyou and Kassandra saw that Anubis blood wasn't red like mortal or gold like that of an Egyptian god. Rather it seems to be blue fluid that ran through the veins of his robot body.

The automated voice of the security system then announced in a text-to-speech manner. "Security Authentication confirmed, Anubis identified. Welcome to The Crypt." The computer voice said. Soon enough the doors slide open revealing a massive industrial production complex. "Behold, The Crypt from which the undying warriors rise from." Said Anubis as he showed Taiyou and Kassandra a sprawling complex with automated assembly lines each one with robot endoskeletons being assembled.

The endoskeletons were then dipped into tubes of emerald green fluids growing artificial and synthetic organs, muscles grafted onto them via a specialized tube growing those organs and sinews. With that done, the tubes were drained with the robots dipped into it being dried up and their muscles hardened and oddly enough each one have their own synthetic genitals.

Once they reached their armoring phase, the robots were covered head to toe with shiny chrome armor looking like a metal skin layer giving them the appearance of robot wolves. Their torso appearing to be like a Greek cuirass breastplate updated to look like firm pectoral biceps of Herakles and abdomen six packs of a Greek hero.

The final result was all of them seems to look masculine and muscular like Taiyou while toned and appearing athletic. Their crotches were covered in a shiny armor plate appearing like a speedo encapsulating their genitals and securing their packages tightly inside an airlock space. Their tails in turn appear to be stubby metal part lacking the grace and flexibility of Taiyou's fluffy furry tail, rather these metal tails were meant to be the robot's counterweight to help lift objects 4 times their sizes.

The robots were then assembled into a chamber where wires were plugged into their head plate with a cable latched into the neural outlet port on the back of their neck to program them with the necessary knowledge for their job and A.I coding. In their rumps, the anus was a reactor port with the cable latched up the port plumping energy into the powerplant built into their bodies.

"Okay…." Taiyou blinked.

"Is the method of assembly REALLY necessary?" Kassandra groaned.

"Of course." Anubis casually remarked to her. "It never bothers them one bit. It makes them more compliance in fact when they feel pleasure the whole time." He finished nonchalantly as he led them into the next chamber where the robots that were finished on the assembly line being armed.

The robots there seems to have a rather uniform set of weapons, most of their firearms were derived from a similar patented bullpup design to create compact weapon while maintaining range and accuracy.

Most were given a Storm Rider assault rifle variant while others were given a general purpose machine gun in the form of the M240G with a mechanical arm to assist with handling and aiming and a backpack to haul ammo belts that feed directly into the weapon. Others were given a grenade launcher mounted variant of their assault rifle or a long barreled high powered scope variant of their more common brethren.

Behind the lines of robots receiving their handheld weapons, other robots were seen marching into the workshop area of the factory. In this brightly lit glass chamber, various mechanical arms and industrial robots were seen standing on pads of 9 tiles each where the robot arms were stripping them of their armor plates and assemble various built in weapons into their robot bodies. Palm mounted plasma cannons, shoulder mounted missile racks, wrist mounted utility such as ion welding device and grappling hook.

Once the weapons were assembled, the armor plates were reassembled into place with the robots optics flashed for a moment, denoting their control systems have registered the weapons ready to use before they stepped off the pads and return to receive their standard issued handheld weapons.

"It's definitely efficient," Taiyou mused. "The equipment is good, and this builds an army quickly. Not to mention they're able to learn and grow."

"They definitely look up to the task at hand. Still...how good have their performance been?" Kassandra asked.

"Would you like to see?" Anubis asked his daughter-in-law before leading them further through the factory to a spacious studio like shooting range onboard the Tartarus. A VR range that was able to reconstruct a realistic town surrounded by an oasis carefully grown and cultivated by the settlers and native Egyptian giving the fresh robots a hyper realistic shooting range.

The place appeared to be designed to look like a typical Egyptian town with rectangular mudbrick buildings and flat rooftops. They also appeared to have paved roads criss crossing through the town with the sand dunes and stone formations dictating various natural elevations that allow the engagements to be organized in a realistic manner with various weather conditions depending on the season.

The town layout appeared to have a temple of Amun on the high ground commanding the town with a fort of local garrison on a second hill. The town was centered around a vegetated pond with running water drawn from the pond and the water basin below.

A market at the center of town was the focal point of most engagements once staged with the palace for the governor being further away from the market. Overall, a realistic location with the actors and thespians being civilians of the town to give a live in feel.

"This is the training range for the new war machines rolling off the lines. The Inquisitors here make sure that the robots are given the most realistic combat scenario possible. They also add and remove variables to make the combat much more punishing." Anubis explained to them as they walked around the town, inspecting the layout and design, along the way they noticed some mannequins being moved around using wires and simple mechanism as a sort of deception. The mannequins were dressed in a variety of outfits from military uniforms with weapons slung on them, to civilian clothes.

"A test to fight among people? Good idea. Can't have soldiers hitting civilians by accident," Taiyou and Kassandra nodded in approval. Even if casualties were something sadly unavoidable sometimes, it pays to avoid them as much as possible.

"Exactly. It also trains them to discern targets, and expect the unexpected." Anubis continued as he led them to a briefing room where new robots were being prepared for their exercise. The robots sat inside a briefing room with boards and maps meticulously drawn up for the battle plan.

Taiyou and Kassandra saw Belisarius and Arminius being the commanding officers of the new robots, briefing them on their objectives. "This is the town of Nekhen, a provincial capital that the enemies have taken over. The local populace are still there as they have no ways to leave. Our objective is to seize the town back from the enemies." Said Belisarius as he began to place icons and symbols on the map. The icons in black and gold color denote the Jackal Guards with the ones in red denote the enemies.

Taiyou and Kassandra saw that the battalion of new robots were meant to surround the town and push into it to capture important structures such as the Temple on the hill top, the fort and the governor's palace.

Not only that but the robots saw that there were icons and markers showing the enemies have plenty of variables and the disposition shows that the enemies were well entrenched and were waiting for possible counter attacks.

"Therefore, speed, surprise and stealth will be our watch words. Alpha Company will come in from the North and take control of the governor's palace and set up a command post there. Bravo will be from the south and lay down suppressive fire on the fort to prevent enemy QRF from crashing the party. Charlie will take control of the Temple to establish overwatch in case of enemy counter attacks. Delta and Echo will be our reserve and support elements respectively." Belisarius finished his briefing as the robots were then setting the built in digital clock in unison by synching themselves to the precise timing of the operation.

Taiyou and Kassandra noticed that Belisarius was coming towards them looking at the two with curiosity and respect at the same time before asking. "Are you here as observers or participants?" Belisarius asked them as he crossed his arms.

"Observers," Kassandra said clearly. "If we're going to be able to help, we'll need to know how this army works."

"We're quite eager to see how well this army does," Taiyou nodded as both of them had their full attention on the training exercise.

Hearing this, Belisarius stroke his chin and thought for a moment about the proposition. It was clear that the battle couple here may have their share of experiences in combat. But it was clear that they didn't have experience in a full scale military maneuver. Let alone commanding armies of their own.

"Lord Anubis has told me about you, lady Kassandra. A lycan with experiences and Spartan upbringing. Perhaps you two could be placed under my watch and learn on the fly?" He asked them both calmly and confidently. Anubis glanced at Kassandra and Taiyou before looking over at Belisarius and nodded to his trusted right hand bot.

"Of course, with you I entrust the two to be given the raw deal of combat." To this Belisarius bowed to Anubis with his right hand crossed his heart. "As you wish supreme commander. Follow me please, I'll show how the robots here and other bases are equipped for an exercise." Belisarius would then lead them out of the briefing room.

The Roman robot wolf led the two to the front of the armory and technical barrack, where they saw that the robots are apparently mounting what appeared to be small laser sensor devices on their body. These were strapped on to their pelvic, torso, head, limbs and on their weapons, they have what appeared to be small laser modules mounted on the muzzles with blank bullets loaded into the drum magazines.

Belisarius picked up the rifle and cocked the bolt before firing a few well placed round on the robot standing as a demonstration mannequin. Taiyou and Kassandra saw that there wasn't a single bullet impacting the armor, let alone scratch it or ricochet off it. Instead they heard authentic gun sound and muzzle smoke, and a loud beeping sound of the laser sensors mounted on the robot.

"This is what we call the MILES, or Military Integrated Laser Engagement System. This system is designed to simulate bullet impacts on the body of a person with the laser sensors mounted on their body to simulate the areas of their bodies that were hit." Belisarius explained gently before handing the weapon back to his robot soldier who then checked his ammo and loaded in additional rounds to make a full mag.

"In short this is where the initiates get to fire their first shots so we keep it safe. When they are trained on the basic principles, we let them use live ammunition in a different range." Said Belisarius.

"A system that allows them to simulate all aspects of combat minus dismemberment and death," Taiyou nodded in approval. "That's ingenious."

"And it also creates troops who are able to gain almost real life experience from just training. The strategic value can't be understated," Kassandra added, very impressed.

Belisarius nodded to them both, "Indeed, we've learned from the many experiences of the past on how to organize realistic and practical training program for soldiers. Here we leverage the latest technological advancements to train robots to think like flesh and blood warriors." He then led the two into a storage warehouse where they saw that the robots inside were preparing a pair of combat uniform for Taiyou and Kassandra.

These appear to be brown sandy pattern with spots of chocolate chip like pattern to help blend into the desert environment. These two uniforms were designed for Taiyou and Kassandra sizes with the two being made with harnesses to carry ammo pouches, sling grenades and slung additional pouches onto their back and utility belt. The combat vest worn over their choco chip camo shirt was secured into place with sticky laces.

One their backs Taiyou and Kassandra were given backpacks to carry additional loads such as their equipment, laser sensors for the simulation, magazine and explosives for demolition purposes. "There you go, standard issued combat loadout provided as per request from the top." Said the robot doing the dressing.

"I'd ask when you got our measurements, but I'd either not like the answer, or find out its something that's somewhat mind blowing," Taiyou chuckled.

"Lots of things have changed over the years, but I must admit, this camouflage is one of the more simple but ingenious things people have come up with," Kassandra noted, fingering her new uniform. They both knew this would be perfect in the terrain the exercise was taking place in.

"I was notified of your measurement from the development of your Nanosuits, these were forwarded to us quickly enough to make appropriate camouflage uniforms knowing your wardrobe malfunction." The robot replied dryly, not quite aware of the possible sarcasm it might have right now due to its still fresh from the factory A.I programming.

Once they were properly dressed, Taiyou and Kassandra appeared to look like properly dressed and geared soldiers of the modern day. They each have their own ECH (Enhanced Combat Helmet) with a kevlar layer of matching chocolate chip camouflage. Over their torso section, they had IOTV (Improved Outer Tactical Vest), with a utility belt around their waists to carry additional gears, pouches and ammo.

Once the two had exited the building to meet up with the congregated robots at an assembly area for the exercise to begin, Taiyou and Kassandra saw that they were about to board some rather sleek, angular and high tech VTOL transports. Each one of these appeared to be tilt rotor aircraft with the robots boarding them in platoons.

"I know I've said this before, but looks like you've all gotten some really nice stuff," Taiyou whistled impressed.

"Your praise has been noted." One robot remarked monotonously as he boarded the VTOL along with other robots. Taiyou and Kassandra boarded one of the VTOL craft with Belisarius and Arminius where they sat down on one of the benches, the floor had backpacks stowed underneath each seats while the cabin was lit up with red light.

Taiyou and Kassandra felt their seats rumble as the VTOL took off from the ground with its massive rotor blades spun at an ever increasing pace before the craft reached cruising speed and head out to the planned LZ near the simulated town. As they flew over the town, the simulated sirens were blaring across the simulated settlement with the actors began to run into the buildings to duck and hide. The VTOL crafts in turn landed in their designated LZs in pairs, surrounding the town.

Each of the pairs disembarked their troops in platoon size, beside the light infantry, the LZs were reinforced by ground vehicles coming to their aids, HEMTT truck with wedge shaped front and humvees were seen circling around the LZ to set up a CASEVAC site to evacuate the wounded and resupply spent ammunition.

To Taiyou's surprise, Leandros was the one sitting in the navigator seat of the lead Humvee, once the robot pokemon stepped out of the Humvee he was apparently taking a short bow to Taiyou and Kassandra greeting them both. "A pleasure to be working with you both. I hope that your participation in this exercise will be most fruitful." Said Leandros as he then was seen accompanied by a pair of robots keeping him safe with one carrying a wireless radio VHF/UHF radio phone backpack.

Belisarius gave Leandros a respectable bow as he crouched down to review their objectives in the particular exercise. "A pleasure working with you Leandros, most respectable one. Now then our objective is to take control of an inn. It sits at the crossroad of the town square. Therefore expect enemies to be crawling all around it. We take it and set up a CASEVAC point closer to our objectives, the Governor's Palace and Temple on the hilltop. Without it we won't be able to bring in some of our other support to deal with the enemies."

Heeding the instructions cautiously, the robot would then draw up numerous mental details and markers in their digital maps showing the location of the inn and it's surrounding. There were various houses, walls and fences segmenting parts of the towns. "Alright then let's go get them. Leandros, you're the command team so stay behind us for cover. Taiyou and Kassandra, you're with me and Arminius as Fireteam Alpha. Fireteam Bravo will be accompanying us to clear this particular part of town. Now let's go."

As they head out to take the town on foot, they saw that the Inquisitors seem to have chosen their timing for the exercise well, they picked the hours near dark to create as much natural hazards and difficulties. The darkness and lack of moonlight made using flashlights a necessity in combat and yet the light can betray the position of its users to their enemies.

The robots didn't have this problem as their optics allowed them to switch on a night vision mode, basking the world in high definition green tinted lenses.

Each and every light sources, no matter how minor was suddenly a bright and blinding glint that obscure the silhouette and shapes of objects while in areas that were darker and pitch black, visibility was rather easy to see.

Taiyou and Kassandra were also issued with such Night vision optics to mount on their helmets, however their optics seems to have a rather limited field of view of around 60 degrees.

The wind began to pick up, blowing sand and its many individual grains flying through the air towards the town and any robots wandering towards it. They eventually arrived at the outer edge of the town where the palm trees, riverbank vegetation covered their approach into the settlement.

And once they had arrived, the shootings start, almost right away the sound of gunshots can be heard echoing through the sky and though the dust and sand might obscure their vision, the robots could still see their enemies firing from rooftops and balconies.

Some lone fighters on the ground skirted around and sprinted to cover while their comrades were blind firing. As the "bullets" fly and whizz passed them, those that do hit home caused the laser sensors to beep once. The robots got into cover behind fences and barricades, while others leaned out of enemy sandbags to return fire. Some of the enemies that were hit held their weapons in the air before walking away slowly when their laser sensors beep repeatedly.

"Clear?" Arminius asked with his weapon scanning the area ahead of him. "Clear, for now at least. So far so good let's keep moving, Bravo watch our backs. Alpha on me, we're clearing the inn from the back. Charlie stand by for the all clear." Belisarius instructed them before leading Alpha team to the backdoor of the inn, stacking up for a breaching maneuver.

As they stacked up by the door, Belisarius was at the front with Taiyou behind him, then Kassandra before finally ending with Arminius with Arminius having his weapon trained on the corner behind them to prevent flanking maneuvers by the enemies. "Taiyou, toss a frag in there on my mark." Belisarius instructed before charging his right leg up for a door kick.

"Ready anytime," Taiyou nodded as he and Kassandra were at full alert. While neither of them specialized in war or major combat, they'd seen their fair share of battles as well as been part of or assisted the military from time to time. They knew how to fight in a unit.

"Breaching breaching!" Belisarius kicked the door in, shattering the wooden door into pieces while Taiyou armed a frag grenade, he tossed in the explosive with its pin pulled and the detonator flung off. The grenade clank and rolled on the ground reaching the kitchen of the inn before detonating. A loud bang and black chars were kicked up covering the area before Belisarius moved in leading the assault. "Go go go! Clear this place out, room by room. Let's go!" Belisarius instructed as he and Arminius stacked up and cleared out the cellar while Taiyou and Kassandra were moving the front of the inn.

There they found the civilian actors putting on their best performance of horrified civilians caught in a warzone. They held up their hands, surrendering before diving to the ground, hiding their faces. The civilians were also apparently putting on their pleading acts and panicking faces as the combat rages across town with robots and insurgents playing laser tag against one another.

"Bravo, we've secured the inn, Charlie you're clear to regroup on our position." Belisarius notified the other teams on the radio as they began to sprint down the sand dunes towards the dune, the other platoons were apparently making their gradual progresses through the town but their enemies apparently did not waver and instead some of the enemies apparently began to use suicide vests while others simply throw down their weapons to surrender.

Though the rookies were programmed with the necessary theories and embedded training programs for their A.I in a VR landscape, executing a physical simulation was still something they have yet to properly grasp. As such, some maneuvers were still unsure, slow or hesitant as the robots evaluate their odds along the way. Some kicked down doors and cleared through residential houses, they sweep through the buildings room by room before dropping their tactical chemlight to declare an all clear in the ones they have secured. They would then rinse and repeat the process to the next buildings as they inch closer to their objectives.

Once Leandros was able to meet up with them he came to a table with the holographic real time map of the town presented to assess overall progress.

So far Taiyou and Kassandra can see that they were the first platoon to reach their nominal objective while then other platoons were still in heavy firefights with their enemies. Soon enough, they saw the muzzle flashes and IR lasers beaming around the Governor's Palace as the squads of robot canines were seen moving in to occupy the building.

The worst part was the fact that in the front of the hilltop temple, the enemies had what appeared to be a light tank parked to rain fire down the enemies. Some of the robots spotted the tank and decided to hide behind covers and reported the sighting to Leandros.

"Enemy armor asset is preventing our forces from advancing. Taiyou and Kassandra, take to the second floor balcony and spot the target." The robot Pokemon handed Taiyou a device that appeared to be a pair of binoculars, but it seems to be a bit more high tech with the large box like rectangular appearance with a monocle in the rear for Taiyou to aim through. It also seems to have a button on the top to activate what appeared to be a "Laser".

"Uh what's this device Leandros? I'm not sure I've seen it before." Taiyou blunk and sweat drop as he held the device in hand and scratched his head with his index finger. Arminius approached him and showed him the rope by holding the device up to Taiyou's eye with the optical len to help him get an idea of how to use it.

"Here you go. This is how you use it, aim it at the enemy and press the button on the top to guide our weapons to it." Arminius instructed quickly, helping Taiyou grasping the device's working principles. He then led Taiyou and Kassandra on the second floor balcony where they set up the device on a tripod.

"Got it," Taiyou nodded, quickly doing as instructed, and aiming it at the target in question. "Ready whenever."

With the SOFLAM ready, Taiyou looked into the lens and found that the device appeared to have a built in thermal mode allowing him to see the enemy light tank sitting comfortably on the slope of the hip blocking the way. Once Taiyou lased the target, he saw through the lens of the SOFLAM a laser being tagged on the target, while then the naked eyes of him and Kassandra didn't see anything.

"Iron Fist-1, this is CLU-I 01173, we have enemy armor asset tagged. Requesting immediate CAS strike on my target. Map grid reference 01X-Ray 4 Yankee 5. Over." On the other end of the radio frequency, Arminius heard the robots replied with a monotonous voice as they fire off their precision mortar shells.

"Affirmative CLU-I 01173. Fire mission send, stay down to its impact. Fire mission sent." Taiyou and Kassandra could then hear the sound mortar shells being fired off, the loud thumping and whistling of mortar shells flying in the air. "Splash. Out." The less than descriptive radio message was followed by the impact of the fired mortar shells on top of the light tank. The ground shook and shudder Taiyou and his wife as the enemy vehicle exploded into a smouldering wreck.

"Iron Fist-1, CLU-I 01173 here. Good effect on target, repeat good effect on target. Enemy vehicle neutralized. Over." They were soon given a radio message telling them the good news. "Reading you loud and clear CLU-I 01173. We're picking up radio transmission in the temple the enemies are considering a surrender."

Radio broadcasts around the town began to clue them in on the exact varcity of the situation with their enemies, the simulated insurgents were seen holding their weapons in the air and coming out of hiding in some remaining strongholds before dropping their weapons.

The other robots were seen occupying their prime objectives as the exercise came to its conclusion, the insurgents in the temple began to walk out with their white flags waving in the air, letting the robots know the exercise had concluded.

"Anubis definitely has a fine army," Kassandra admitted as they finished the exercise. "Their teamwork is top notch."

"Looks like we're gonna have to work hard if we want to work in synch with them," Taiyou nodded.

"Well, nothing we can't handle," Kassandra chuckled.

[hr]

With the combat exercise wrapped up, Taiyou and Kassandra were led back to meet Anubis inside the factory's overseer office by way of a friendly robot Inquisitor. Despite sporting a head similar to that of the sinister Set, the robot demeanor seems to suggest a friendly and suave personality, if not a bit sly or that of a rogue.

Inside the office, Taiyou and Kassandra saw Anubis sitting by a large wooden desk made of oak woods, the surface seems to sport carvings and sculps of Horus' falcon motifs on either side of a sun disk with the Eye of Horus carved into the middle of the sun disk.

"Definitely suits you," Taiyou chuckled, looking at the decorations.

"Yes, you've certainly created an impressive group. I have no complaints whatsoever," Kassandra nodded.

They saw Anubis gave them a faint smile, perhaps a bit stiff by the armor plates of his robot helm. He then stood up from the desk, his scepter took shape in his hand from nothing allowing him to use it as a walking cane. "Well I maybe mechanical now, but that is by no means I should ever forget my roots. Either in theme or ideas, let alone aesthetic." Said Anubis as he welcomed the two into the office, allowing them to sit down by a sofa for two made from Persian pillows, covered by a layer of Chinese silk.

The Jackal deity then proceeded to offer the two a drink of Greek grape wine, brewed and fermented from farms in Faiyum nome, his childhood home and that of Set. "My father sent me this, he wished that I could visit Faiyum again sometimes. Maybe catch up between the two of us to make up for the past." Anubis poured Taiyou and Kassandra each a gold goblet of wine before sitting down in front of them.

"From what you've seen, I guess it leaves quite an impression on you both that the robots are combat effective, even more so when they're trained and ready for all out war." Said Anubis. "Of course I can't quite share this advanced technology and knowledge to others. Not yet at least." He sighed out, seemingly aware of the matter that was still troubling him, technological confidentiality. "Also, I heard that the Scribe is finishing his works on the improved Nanosuits. He made sure that the new suits will be more survivable this time around than the last prototype." He finished as he drank his wine from the goblet.

"To be fair, the last one took quite a lot of punishment before it broke down, but yeah, that'd be very good," Taiyou nodded.

"Just tell him to not do anything strange or he's gonna need a new beak," Kassandra growled.

"And he'll have some new sunburns," Taiyou added cheerfully.

"Or his metal feathers plucked." Anubis added chuckling a bit as he lounged against his chair. "I would probably need to make sure he doesn't try anything funny the next time he makes a Nanosuits. Namely having a mind of its own to perv or violate others." Said Anubis as he coughed out a bit due to the alcohol he drank, the beverage didn't seem to jibe well with his body's filtering. "Pardon, anti drunkage protection suit. It keeps me sober, perhaps a bit too sober for my own good."

He then stood up looking out to the glass window of the office, it was an observatory of sorts looking down at the assembly line below, Taiyou and Kassandra could see that half was for robots ranging from standard infantry models to the more mecha like designs of bipedal Hecatonchires robos. The other half of the factory was reserved for vehicle assemblies ranging from tanks, IFVs, Jeeps, helicopters, drones, and other assortment of vehicles.

"Quite a sight isn't it? If my enemies hadn't escalated to technologically advanced weaponry, I wouldn't have done the same." Said Anubis with a heavy tone, his reflection on the glass window seems to show him glaring at himself first and foremost before looking at the robots, there seems to be some hints of self loathing in his eyes.

"Sometimes we have to do what is necessary," Taiyou admitted. "But I still think there should be a line sometimes…" he added with a sigh. "Is there a way for you to reverse ...this? Maybe once everything is over, you can go back?"

Anubis looked down at his arms, seeing how they were now mechanical arms, though he can still feel the flesh and bone beneath the metal, they weren't organic like Taiyou and Kassandra. He couldn't ball a fist without hearing the hydraulics and actuators whirring.

"Till now… no. I haven't found a way to reverse it. Theoretically speaking, the Nanites can be used to stimulate growth of organic materials, but doing so requires some sort of chemical enzyme to bond the organic materials and sustain its grown without deterioration." He sighed out again, feeling the guilt and immense trouble of robotization weighing on his back.

He didn't think much about his family's reaction to it, other than objection or steep in tradition. He only knew it would help him fighting his foes, and clearly he didn't place enough forethought on the matter. It was then that his palm projected a holographic avatar of the Abyssal Scribe, the dark ibis deity was apparently calling him to report on progress of his project.

"My lord Anubis, how wonderful that you answer my call. I am pleased to announce to you that the Nanosuits are ready. Hehehehe. With a little special modification of course." The Scribe snickered to Anubis, hinting at possible tricks he had in store for the recipient of his gifts. "How flattering. We'll be down there soon… come on, looks like your suits have finally been completed." Anubis then led the couple of the office to see the Scribe's inventions.

They hitched an elevator ride down to the assembly line and passed through to the weapon manufacturing area of the factory. There Taiyou and Kassandra saw a massive munition factory working around the clock, mass producing firearms and gadgets for the robots. Ranging from standard issued automatic bullpup assault rifle with attachments, to powerful anti material sniper rifles and even machine guns that can tear down cinder blocks or stone walls of a castle.

The two passed through a firing range where the robots were seen practicing with live ammunition shooting at cardboard targets, their weapons torn through the target plates, throwing particles and bits of cardboards and papers flying in the air before settling on the floor. The range was rather loud and obviously the robots had their earbuds on their heads to protect their audio sensors from being overloaded by the loud gunshots.

Thankfully for Taiyou and Kassandra, the audio torture didn't last long, once they entered a more confidential area of the lab, they saw that behind the steel double doors, the lab had an assortment of gadgets, equipment and even numerous prototypical technological in development.

The lab itself was a brightly lit white light lab, the floor and sealing were so bright Taiyou's pristine white fur could blend in if it weren't for his divine markings. The place had numerous projects running with glass containers for each one, automated industrial robots were busy at work testing out the contraptions that were being developed.

These range from audio muffling paw pads, to sonic pulse sonar devices to detect enemies, there were even optical camouflage armor technology to help hide a robot or vehicle from enemy scanners. The multitude of gadgets and equipment were needless to say, rather impressive and wildly out of this world. The thought of mortals being able to wield a mimicry of deities powers is something unfathomable once, but now so easy to be real.

They soon found the Abyssal Scribe working at the end of the lab with two Nanosuits on display of a glowing pad to highlight the suits. The suits were wildly different from the prototypical design. While sporting synthetic muscle fibers as damage dampener, the suits appeared to have taken on more sleek and angular armor plates befitting their wearers.

Taiyou's one was a white suit with a red sun symbol on the chest panel, while Kassandra's more feminine suit was a Spartan crimson red, similar to the Spartan's signature red cape, her chest panel had what appeared to be a green wreath above a pair of crossed spears. Each of the suits had bolted on armor plates protecting them from additional incoming fire and attacks while at the same time having helmet and masks designed to conform with the couple's canid appearance.

"Impressive. VERY impressive," Taiyou nodded in approval.

"I agree," Kassandra smiled as she examined the armor. "These show fine craftsmanship indeed."

As Taiyou and Kassandra came closer, they saw that the armor plates had digital pixelated camouflage painted on them with Taiyou sporting white background and grey square pixels, while Kassandra had red pixel with a variety of shades of red and oranges to aid with obscuring vision.

"My latest inventions. The Abyssal Shells. Crafted from the finest materials Egypt can fabricate and synthesize. Endowed in the elegant craftsmanship of the Abyssal Void and…" Before the Scribe could finish his elaborate presentation, Thoth cut in with a stern voice as if he was asserting his authority over the Scribe. "And programmed by the careful and considerate mind such as myself. Thank you Scribe." Said Thoth as he walked into the lab accompanied by Belisarius and Arminius.

Taiyou and Kassandra saw that the deity too had undergone cybernetic modification like some prominent deities of the Egyptian pantheon.

He appeared to sport black and grey metallic plates over him. His beak was still yellow, but now had a metal shine to it with a silver strip going all the way to his brows.

His shoulder plates were identical in shape to the ones he had previously only now however they were a shiny silver with golden interiors being surrounded by the curvey silver borders. His former sapphire gems were now glowing yellow gem.

His skin was now a gunmetal color with small lines that run about his body giving him some advanced details. Around his neck was a silver collar with ran all the way down to the center of his chest ending in a connection of a silver bordered yellow gem, and below that an arrow silver crest that pointed downwards.

On both of his pecs were yellow lighting bolt shapes that arched down his chest going down to his abs. His gloves were silver segmented pointed claws that ended at the same gun metal skin color as before, and a round yellow gem in the center.

His hat was the same shape as before, but now with a glowing yellow round gem in the center with a round golden diamond shaped border. On the side were the same crests as before flowing upwards, but now golden with cybernetic square panel lines.

The Scribe bowed his head to Thoth making a mock respect manner to the Ibis deity before raising his head up to face Thoth. "How have you been? Feeling lonely?" The lewd comment only sent Thoth's eyes rolled with a twinge of frown and annoyance on his face.

"No Scribe, I do not need your temptation or seduction right now. Ah Taiyou, Kassandra. How lovely to see you two again. It has been a long time since we last met, for which I must apologize due to the numerous inconveniences and events lately keeping me occupied with Anubis." Said Thoth as he politely shook Taiyou and Kassandra's hands.

"It's been a while, Thoth," Taiyou nodded politely. "I see you've been...well…"

Thoth looked down at his robot body and blunk a moment before holding his palm up gently as if he was unfazed by it. "Oh no worries about this Taiyou. I was thoroughly convinced by its benefit after this technology saved Ra's life in the nick of time. Loki's blades were Godkillers after all. Therefore, I now use this robot body to help take care of Ra and maintenance for him." Said Thoth with a cool and calm voice while the Scribe giggled nearby. "Let's not forget it allows him to have some special times with me and the Abyssal Crow. Oh shouldn't have said that," the Scribe said.

Thoth rolled his eyes once again but took no offense to the Scribe's words as he then gestured for Belisarius and Arminius to stand on a pair of pads where they were secured by various automated industrial robots clamping on their shoulders. "Are you sure this prototype is workable even for field testing?" Arminius asked Thoth cautiously as he glanced over his shoulder.

"There there now, don't worry. I've taken precautions to make sure what you're about to receive is functioning in the field. Stand by now." Thoth instructed them as he summoned a holographic wall of hieroglyphs with two graphs showing the body schematics of Belisarius and Arminius.

He moved his hands and pressed various digital buttons on the wall directing the robot arms moving to position themselves in front of Belisarius and Arminius. Each of these arms appeared to have sprayers mounted on them, they then sprayed what appeared to be a blue paint on the armor. But on closer inspection, Taiyou and Kassandra could see the blue paint didn't change the color of their armor plates rather it embedded on their armor forming hexagonal patterns highlighted in electric blue for a split second. The hexagonal "net" flashed for a few seconds before disappearing completely from sight.

"Now to test them out. Apply Arid Precision Camouflage." Said Thoth, using his voice command to order the armor plates to suddenly change their color from the digital pixelated grey and silver pattern into a camouflage pattern of green, olive tan and sandy brown pattern. Thoth smiled satisfyingly as he continued the testing. "Apply Floral pattern," the coloration would then shift for the two wolves turning into a floral green and dark earthy brown color.

Thoth then reverted the camouflage color to default silver and grey digital pixelated camouflage. He opened up window showing soundwave spectrum and began to sync them to Belisarius and Arminius before letting them go. "Now then I've synched your OctoCamo upgrade to your voices. Simply bark the keywords of the camouflage pattern loaded into your databanks and the OctoCamo will apply them quite easily." Said Thoth with an approving smile to the two.

"Ah thank you lord Thoth, I hope that the field testing will be successful since this would help all of our robots in the field. Being able to change our camouflage on the fly." Said Belisarus as he rubbed his arms, feeling the cold metal and harden plates with some rough and strange prickly like feeling on it after the OctoCamo Nanite was applied to his armor.

"If this works, how much will it help your efforts?" Kassandra asked curiously.

"Simple. The harder for the enemies to see us, the better. We can better set up ambushes and prepared for any environment we go into." Arminius remarked with Belisarius nodding to her. "Times have changed, no longer do we fight in large fixed formations. Obscuring our silhouette and blend into the environment have become the norm with firearms." Belisarus explained to her.

"Now then you too, would you be so kind as to help me test out my latest inventions?" the Scribe chimed in as he then led the couple into a dressing area for the Nanosuits. They were afforded complete privacy behind the silhouetted curtains and in the dressing room, they saw that the suits were able to stand upright on their own before the back portion of the suits opened up, flipping the torso portion up while the thigh and calf portions dropped down. Letting Taiyou and Kassandra enter the suits.

Kassandra examined the open suit and sighed slightly. "We're going to have to use these naked, aren't we?"

"Pretty much yeah," Taiyou nodded. "Kinda awkward when the first one got destroyed…"

Kassandra sighed in resignation, before they drew the curtains and dropped their clothes, entering the open suits.

Once the suits internal sensors picked up signatures of Taiyou and Kassandra's heart beats and pulses, the life signs prompted the suits to lock themselves in and gave Taiyou and Kassandra the feeling of empowerment inside a shell of steel plates and synthetic nano carbon fiber muscles. They then saw that their heads were covered inside the casing of a ballistic mask with breathing apparatus with a visor over their eyes.

Like the prototypical suit, Taiyou and Kassandra saw that their HUD appeared to be an Augmented Reality HUD with digital information overlays being placed on relevant places such compasses on the bottom of the HUD with bearings on the top.

The other thing they noticed was how a digital crosshair moved to the direction of their eyes with the view zooming in depending on their brain impulses to see something up close.

When Taiyou and Kassandra came out to the Scribe, Thoth and Anubis they would see that the crosshairs locked on each person of interest before laying out an ID photo with information and relevant data to them. "Well, how do you feel? Pretty sexy heh?" The Scribe grinned looking at Kassandra's slender frame.

"It seems functional as far as I can tell," Kassandra said, choosing to ignore the comment.

"Hehehe. Oh that's not the best part of it yet Kassandra." He snapped his fingers and caused the two Nanosuits to suddenly become transparent, "Cloak engaged," said the robotic voices of the suits with Taiyou being a more robotic version of his own voice while Kassandra heard a feminine robotic version of her own voice.

"Cloaking ability. A step up compared to OctoCamo. But it is still experimental and can't be deployed enmasse yet. Enjoy escaping my gaze." The Scribe snickered as he walked behind them, gently using his sharp talon to run on Taiyou's firm buttocks before reaching to lift his invisible tail up. This caused the cloaking of Taiyou's suit to spark static electricity and he became visible again. "As long as you don't let anything grab you that is." Said the Scribe.

"That seems...a bit problematic. Then again, I suppose it's pointless to be invisible if you've been grabbed," Taiyou shrugged.

"Yes. And perhaps your presentation of the Nanosuits would be better without you creeping out the young deities here." Said Thoth with a frown as he stepped up and pulled the Scribe up front of Taiyou and Kassandra. The couple could see that the Scribe was apparently annoyed by Thoth's intervention.

"Oh pffft! Where's the fun in your style? I perform my job as expected and have some mischief along the way." The Scribe objected and batted Thoth's arm away before huffed and puffed, Thoth turned his back to the Scribe and scoffed. The ibis deity was rubbing his forehead while the Scribe grinned deviously. He snapped his talons and Thoth suddenly felt something was happening to his crotch.

He looked down and Taiyou and Kassandra could see that Thoth's crotch was apparently experiencing a boner, his erection was growing and throbbing, barely kept in place by his bulge crotch plate. The Scribe then tapped his fingers together, causing Thoth to notice his system was hacked into with the crotch plate being unlocked and fell to the ground revealing Thoth's genital erect to full mast.

The Scribe then burst into laughter while Thoth was struggling to cover his private and blushed embarrassingly. "That's what you get Thothy, but hey let's face it we both enjoy it don't we?" The Scribe mocked and teased Thoth as the doppelganger planted his palms on his hips.

"You really do a lot of things as you please, don't you?" Taiyou sighed at what he was seeing.

"Of course! I enjoy the mayhem I cause. But really I prefer to spend time in labs conducting unethical research that may or may not violate your body or sexually discomfort you." He chuckled out further as Thoth frowned and secured his crotch plate into position and secured its locks before giving the Scribe a spank on his metal buttocks, causing the Scribe to hike his leg up and shiver in pleasure and moaned out.

He then went to his knees and buried his face under Thoth's skirt and rubbed his forehead against Thoth's bulgy crotch plate much to his annoyance. "I put up with this a lot Taiyou, don't worry about it. Eventually you know he won't hurt you for real. Just really annoying with his perverse manners." Said Thoth as he looked down at the submissive behaviors of the Scribe.

However, as they were still being bothered by the Scribe's behaviors, Anubis noticed his right ear was beeping an emergency message, he tapped on it and was given a caller ID from Ra with a video feed of the Palace's throne room where the robot sun hawk deity sat with a Roman embassador groveling at his feet pleading. "Something's wrong?" Anubis asked.

"Plenty. This Roman ambassador has something in the region for you." Ra replied as he then took what appeared to be a USB from the ambassador's hand and slipped it into the neural outlet port on the back of his head to stream to Anubis what was given to him in such urgency.

The first thing Anubis was shown was the Roman African city of Carthage with its iconic port and the cylindrical drydock. The city appeared to be under hostile occupation with a towering war machine marching through the city leveling houses and infrastructure. This war machine appeared to have 4 arachnid legs with a round dome like head on the top and a single red cyclop optic. The right arm appeared to have a massive cannon while the other one was a claw like hand to manipulate objects.

The camera feed showed an excavation was being done with modern machinery and heavily armed troops occupying the city with more being flown in from the sea by a cargo ship docked to the harbor. And leading them was a mechanical figure, a levitating skeletal like machine with gothic flaming aesthetic over its body with its hands holding a scepter made of metal. On its head were a pair of horns twisting like an Ibex. "Hades…" Anubis uttered.

"You know what to do Anubis, mobilize. We need Hades in tact, nothing less. Understood?" Ra asked Anubis over the coms network to which Anubis nodded. "No questions asked."


End file.
